The next section is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting of the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tony Diaz (email: tdiaz-a(in_a_circle)-apple2-dotsero-org), all rights reserved. This document can be freely copied so long as 1) it is not sold, 2) any sections reposted elsewhere from it are credited back to this FAQ with the FAQ's copyright info and official WWW location ( http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ) left in place.

This FAQ may not be sold, bundled on disks or CD-ROMs, reprinted in magazines, books, periodicals, or the like without prior consent from the maintainer, Tony Diaz. Exceptions are explicitly granted for Juiced.GS and _The_Lamp. Email me for permission otherwise.

Big thanks to Nathan Mates, the previous maintainer of this comp.sys.apple2 FAQ, for allowing it to live on after his departure and anyone who took up that mantle before him.

Section 1: Introduction

What's a FAQ?

8/10/97 Hi! Welcome to the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup! As the major usenet group for discussing all models of the Apple I, II and /// family, there are lots of questions that are asked fairly often. This document is an attempt to collect the most common answers and provide everyone with answers. 'FAQ' stands for "Frequently Asked Questions" [i.e. with answers], and therefore, that's what this is. It would be ideal if everyone read this before asking a question that's answered in here. Referring them to this FAQ is still a good idea even if they missed it.

I, Tony Diaz, took over the maintenance of this FAQ on June 9th, 2000 It mostly lagged at first, but a project has started to allow a group of volunteers to enhance this document. Want to help? Sign up for Wiki access at http://apple2.info/wiki and drop me an email expressing the desire to help out. Editing requires that your acct. is enabled. I just do not want to have to deal with wiki vandalism.

I hope it becomes a valuable resource. If not, what's it missing??

How do I get to comp.sys.apple2 and what is it? 8/30/96

comp.sys.apple2 (commonly abbreviated 'c.s.a2' or 'csa2') is a USENET newsgroup. Usenet is a service for transferring messages, called articles, in many different groups and hierarchies. USENET posts can originate from your local newsreader and spread to hundreds of thousands of machines throughout the world. You normally need some sort of internet connection on your machine or a connection to one to access usenet. Usenet is available as Google Groups, http://groups.google.com - enter 'csa2' in the search box and pick comp.sys.apple2. Create a Google ID or login and your visits will be recalled the next time you connect.

Usenet has its own set of FAQs and guidelines; please read the group news.announce.newusers for a good introduction. While the following list is not intended as a substitute for reading that group, this is a short list of guidelines culled from those lists:

1. Be relevant. Each newsgroup was formed to contain messages for a set of topics, so please try to respect that. Especially, do not post questions to a newsgroup for binaries (programs), and vice versa.

2. Be respectful of content size. If you are quoting a large article, please try and trim it down to only what is needed to respond to. Adding only a few lines to a few hundred quoted lines is annoying.

3. Keep your lines to a manageable length. Although modern newsreaders can use pretty fonts, most of usenet is still carried and read over terminals with 80 columns on the screen. Making sure your lines have a return every 70 or so characters lets your posts be quoted neatly.

4. Be terse with a .signature. Certain newsreaders let you attach a file automatically to the bottom of your posts. Anything over 4 lines and 80 columns per line is considered excessive.

5. Chain letters (especially those promising lots of money by sending a small amount to a few people, and adding your name to a list) are very much illegal and a quick way to get the IRS (or the local equivalent) to audit you. Do NOT participate in them.

6. Although news is something internet wide, everyone's connection is maintained by a local administrator. Ask them first if you are experiencing problems.

Back to the subject at hand, the Apple II newsgroups. There are several of them; here is a list of what they are and general guidelines for what is relevant on them.

comp.sys.apple2 - General discussion and questions relating to all Apple II's
comp.sys.apple2.comm - Communications and networking related issues
comp.sys.apple2.gno - Discussion of program GNO/ME for the Apple IIGS (UNIX for the Apple IIGS)
comp.sys.apple2.marketplace - Buying, selling and promoting Apple II related products
comp.sys.apple2.programmer - Discussion relating to any aspect of programming the Apple II series
comp.sys.apple2.usergroups - Discussion relating to Apple II usergroups
comp.binaries.apple2 - Public Domain/Shareware Software for all Apple II's. Only programs should be posted here
comp.sources.apple2 - A moderated newsgroup for the posting of Apple // related source code
comp.emulators.apple2 - Discussion relating to the use of Apple II emulation software/hardware on non-Apple II compatible system
alt.emulators.ibmpc.apple2 - Mostly obsoleted version of comp.emulators.apple2

If your Internet provider does not carry any or all of the above newsgroups, but have WWW access, you may want to go to http://groups.google.com for reading and posting access to them. [Other access points may also exist.]

Comp.binaries.apple2 is a newsgroup used for ONLY non-commercial Apple II software. Questions and answers should be asked in comp.sys.apple2. Programs posted there may be Public Domain (may be used and copied freely), Freeware (similar to Public Domain except that the original owner retains the Copyright) or Shareware (the author expects you to pay for using it if you use for longer than some specified period of time).

Software distributed on comp.binaries.apple2 is expected to be a BinSCII text file containing a ShrinkIt archive. Please post a text description of your program and what it requires to run so people can tell if they want to download it or not. You may cross-post the description (only) to comp.sys.apple2. Remember, distribution of commercial software is illegal.

Comp.sources.apple2 is a newsgroup used to distribute Apple II source code. The posts in comp.sources.apple2 should be in Apple Archive Format. Contact jac@openix.com for details; an archive of all postings to it is at http://www.openix.com/~jac

Discussions concerning the software posted in these groups, or the methods of locating, decoding, or accessing this software, or questions on locating archive sites of this software, or any OTHER discussions are to be held in comp.sys.apple2. If someone DOES either intentionally or accidentally post to the binary/source groups, please respond only in email - do not compound the problem!

What other FAQs are available for Apple IIs and the internet?

The following are listed mostly alphabetically; they are composed of official FAQs as well as the most commonly viewed pages in my WWW FAQ directory:

If you are looking for other FAQs or information in general:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs Nice hypertext archive with searching abilities on all 'official' Usenet FAQs.

Section 2: What is an Apple II?

The Apple I

The original Apple was not much more than a board; only 200 were made. With only one expansion 'slot', you had to supply your own keyboard, monitor and case. It sold for $666.66, but now they are worth many thousand dollars apiece as a collector's item.

The Apple ][, ][+ and 'europlus'

The computers that started the Apple II line; the Apple ][ debuted in April 1977, and the ][+ in 1979. They were sold with 1 Mhz 6502 processors, a NTSC or PAL video out connector with ability to do 40x24 text (uppercase letters and punctuation only), High (roughly 280x192, 4 (only early ][s) or 6 fixed colors) and Low (40x48, 16 fixed colors) resolution color graphics, sound, plus they have 8 expansion slots to add peripherals. (Slot 0 was essentially reserved for RAM/ROM upgrades, though.) The ][ and ][+ were sold with anywhere from 4-48K of RAM. The first versions had Steve Wozniak's Integer Basic built into ROM, while later versions had the more powerful Applesoft Basic. Although a cassette tape interface was provided, most systems used the external 140K per side (manually flipping the disk to access the other side was extremely common) 5.25" Disk ][ drive. Common upgrades included adding joysticks or paddles, 80-column video cards (not the same as a //e 80-column card), more memory or faster processors (Transwarp, Zipchip, Rocketchip).

The 'europlus' variant is a ][+ with a differnt logo on the front case, and the ability to put out the video in black and white PAL format. Thus, they're not easily usable in the US, Japan, Korea, and other countries using NTSC video. There may be a more powerful RF adapter that allows the europlus to display color PAL images, but I'm not sure on this.

With 48 to 64K of ram, a ][ or ][+ can run most of the Apple II game classics, as well as thousands of pieces of software. Early versions of Appleworks (integrated Word Processor, Database, Spreadsheet) could be run on a ][ or ][+ with 128K and a program called PlusWorks.

Recommended configuration: 16K language card (in slot 0 with a ribbon cable running to the RAM) which extends the system to 64K RAM, an 80-column video card, shift key modification (allows the shift keys to be used), and modified character ROMs to do lower case. Early external hard drives, such as the Sider or Corvus can also be added. You can add memory in various ways, but 95% of Apple II programs that require 128K probably will not work in a ][ or ][+, no matter how much RAM you have-- they tend to require a //e or better.

The Apple //e

Released in January 1983, the //e ('e' for enhanced) became the mainstay of the Apple II line, being manufactured and sold into the 1990s. While it still had the 1Mhz 6502 when first released (mostly for compatability reasons with software such as games and the Disk ][ hardware), it had uppercase and lowercase text display built in, with working shift and capslock keys. (Early versions didn't have the shft key modification that was standard on the ][+, but it was standard in later versions.) The motherboard was also simpler due to custom chips, and had 64K RAM built in, and inherited all of the graphics modes from the ][+. Slot 0 was replaced by an 'Auxillary' slot for an 80 column card with optional extra ram. (The 'Extended 80 Column card' provided 80 display columns plus 64K more ram for a total of 128K; other vendors sold cards with more RAM, up to several megabytes of ram).

Several versions of the //e were released; the very first motherboard revision (written on the motherboard in the back, by the power-on led) as version 820-0064-A. The first change to this was one to the motherboard to allow 'Double Hires' (560x192 in black and white mode; 140x192 in 16 fixed colors mode) graphics display if an extended 80 Column board was installed. You will need a motherboard which is not revision 820-0064-A to do this.

The other main change, released in March 1985, and which can be done independently, such as to an original motherboard, was the ability to 'Enhance' the 'enhanced' Apple II. This was done to bring the //e's processor and ROMs up to the level that the Apple //c which had come out in April 84. This enhancement was accomplished by swapping 4 socketed chips on the motherboard: the CPU (6502 to 65C02, which provided more instructions, but the system speed remained the same), character generator (replaced a normally unused set of uppercase inverse characters by 32 graphical symbols useful for doing a GUI on the 40 or 80 column screen) ROM, and 2 ROM chips (Monitor/Applesoft). This upgrade could be done by a user; Apple (and later Alltech Electronics, FAQ section 10.2) sold the 4 chips. Most current Apple II software requires an Enhanced //e, and sometimes 128K too.

The easiest way to check if a //e has been enhanced is to look at the top line of the screen when it is powered up or rebooted. If it says "Apple ][", it is not enhanced. The enhanced computers will say "Apple //e". These enhancements were built into all subsequent releases of the Apple II, such as the IIc+, and IIGS; the //c was "enhanced" before the //e. (It is technically possible to swap some but not all of the 4 chips to get a partially enhanced system, but that is very rare, and should be avoided).

In 1987, a third major revision of the //e came out. This one has the Double Hires capable motherboard and is Enhanced, and is easily identifiable by the numeric keypad built into the platinum-colored case, which previous //es, ][+s, and ][s lacked. The motherboard also had some changes: one 16K ROM IC which replaced the two 8K Monitor ROM ICs (the CD and EF ROMs), two 64Kx4 RAM ICs replaced the eight 64Kx1 RAM ICs, the single-wire shift-key mod, and a miniturized version of the Extended 80 Column Card.

The above description of //e models is for the NTSC variants (video standard used by US, Canada, Japan), while there were also some PAL (Australia, Europe, etc) variants. Most of the time, you will find the variants in countries using the video standards, but one way to be sure is if the AUX slot is on the side of the motherboard near the power supply, you have an NTSC model, whereas if it is in line with slot 3, you have a PAL model. (Thanks to Steve Leahy for this one) The PAL revisions are: [Thanks to Dave Wilson for this]

The Apple //e is still useful for three major reasons: 1) It runs AppleWorks, a simple to use, yet sophisticated Spreadsheet/Word Processor/Database. 2) There are many Apples in schools, so there is a ton of educational software for it. 3) It is was and will always be a personal computer. You can learn as little or as much as you want, and nothing stops you from learning about every nook and cranny in it. Ask any big name programmer in MS/DOS or Mac where they learned to program. Most of them taught themselves on a good ol' Apple //.

Recommended configuration: an enhanced //e with extended 80 Column card (gives you 128K) or Applied Engineering's RamWorks (512K to 1MB RAM). RGB video out could be provided with some third party cards. A Hard Drive is recommended if you use a lot of different programs. You can also speed it up with an accelerator.

The Apple //c and IIc+

The //c (released April 24th, 1984) and //c+ (released September 1988) are 'luggable' versions of an Enhanced //e, with many built-in 'cards'. Included are 2 serial ports, a mouse port, a disk port and 128K of RAM. The IIc+ has a built-in accelerator that runs at either 1 or 4Mhz (switch built into case), an internal power supply vs the 'brick on a rope' design of the //c, and a built in 800K 3.5" drive vs the 140K 5.25" drive of the //c. Even though they don't have slots, you can still add extra memory (there's room under the keyboard) and a hard drive (through the disk port--a bit slow by ordinary standards, but usable. (Hard to find though-- was made by Chinook, but Sequential Systems later bought out the design). The //c and IIc+ run just about everything that an Enhanced //e runs. The //c and IIc+ cannot connect to an AppleTalk network.

The //c had a number of internal revisions; the best way to check is to go into Basic and type "PRINT PEEK (64447)" and press return (no quotes). If it says 255, you have a very old //c; most of those motherboards had problems that prevented most //cs from getting reliable serial communications on faster than somewhere in the 300-2400 baud ranges. See your dealer about getting an upgrade, which is apparently no longer free (tell them that the Apple authorization number is ODL660, and try anyhow). If it says 0, you can connect a 3.5" drive, but you don't have the internal memory expansion connector for Apple cards [Some third party cards could be added, such as the AE Z-RAM, but those are rare and specific to this revision]. If it says 3, you have the internal memory expansion connector-- extra RAM can be added with certain cards. If it says 4, you have the latest model of the //c. If it says 5, you have a IIc+.

Various companies sell cables for the Apple //c's more oddball 5-pin serial ports; check out Atlaz Computer Supply (516-239-1854) or LYBEN Computer Systems at (800) 493-5777. The IIc+ uses the 8 pin mini DIN-8 ports found on the GS and Macs past the Mac Plus, so cables for those other computers will work on them.

The IIc+ normally boots at high (4Mhz) speed, but if you hold down the 'escape' key on boot/reboot, it'll drop down to normal speed until the next reboot.

Recommended configuration: 1 MB RAM, 3.5" drive, maybe a hard drive.

The Laser 128EX

While not made by Apple, this clone is a cross between the //c and an Enhanced //e. It is as luggable as a //c and has built-in 'cards', and an accelerator. It also has a slot to expand. If you want to add a card, you may have to disable the internal UDC (Universal Drive Controller, for 3.5" inch drives) or the internal 1MB memory expansion. Runs almost everything that the //c and //e runs, except for the odd program requiring an undocumented entry point in a geniune Apple ROM.

The Apple IIGS

The GS represents a giant leap in the Apple II line. It can still run //e software, but has a better processor (16-bit 2.5Mhz 65816; can be slowed to 1Mhz for compatability with older Apple II programs, especially games), more ram (256K built in to the first releases), a new super-hires graphics mode (320x200, 16 colors per line colors picked from 4096 colors, or 640x200, 16 dithered (4 true) colors per line from 4096 colors), a large set of commonly used routines called the toolbox in ROM (just like the Mac, though it is not identical) and a 32 oscillator Ensoniq sound chip. Despite having 7 main slots like a //e, plus a RAM card (different from the //e's AUX slot), the GS has 2 serial ports, appletalk support, a 3.5" and 5.25" disk port, and RGB monitor connector built in, but using those ports required that one of the 7 main slots in it be mostly given up. (Accelerators and video boards didn't require that.) The IIGS can not only run ProDOS, but it can also run GS/OS, a sophisticated operating system with the better features from the Macintosh OS.

With the new processor, video modes, and the like, IIGS software tends to run only on the IIGS and no previous Apple II models, but pretty much all software that runs on a //e or //c will run on a GS.

Released in September 1986, the original GS ROM 00 (which tended to have the Woz signature on the front case, though that is no guarantee) must have one or two chips (the ROM and possibly also the Video graphics controller) upgraded to become a ROM 01 machine and boot/run current software. The first 50,000 GSs sold had a 'Woz' signature painted on the front of the case; this was known as the 'limited' edition. With so many of these cases, there's almost no added value to the limited edition.

A later revision of the motherboard, known as the ROM 3 had a number of significant changes: more ROM (256K vs 128K) on the motherboard, more (1MB vs 256K) RAM on the motherboard, different capabilities for the internal slots, better support for the disabled, and a cleaner motherboard which can result in quieter sound support. The extra ROM allows more parts of the system software to be accessed from there, which allows a ROM 3 to boot and run GS/OS and GS/OS programs slightly faster than a ROM 01. (The two have identical toolbox functionality from the programmer's standpoint, however.)

To determine which ROM version you're using, when you power it up, it should say "Apple IIGS" at the top of the text screen for a second or so, and possibly some text at the bottom, which states either ROM 01 or ROM 3. If it does not say either, you have a ROM 00, the original version. You must upgrade a ROM 00 to an 01 (easy-- swap 2 chips), or a ROM 3 (much harder-- a motherboard swap is required, and you might as well purchase a ROM 3 system outright) it in order to run current system software. Alltech Electronics, FAQ section 10.2 is licensed to sell the ROM 00 to 01 upgrade chips if you want to upgrade it yourself.

There is no such thing as a ROM 02 or 2. The engineers at Apple called the first revision of the GS's ROM a ROM 00, and the second 01. However, many people were confused by the second revision having a 1 in the name. To get things back in sync, the third revision also has the numeral 3 in the name. The ROM 4 existed in several prototypes, but was killed off before general production.

The current system software works to make a ROM 01 and a ROM 3 two systems appear almost identical to the software, except for the obvious such as the amount of RAM built in. Certain games and other copy protected software that used undocumented entry points on the ROM 01 will not work on the ROM 3.

Due to software compatability reasons, the slots and associated builtin ports are mostly exclusive, unless the board only uses the slot for power but not communicating with the computer (usually only accelerators, sound boards used for only output, and video boards). Slots 1 and 2 are the modem and printer ports, 3 is the 80-column video, 4 is the ADB mouse, 5 is the 3.5" drive support, 6 the 5.25" drive support, and 7 is sometimes used for Appletalk. [ROM 01 requires slot 7 be set to Appletalk, and one of slots 1/2 to 'Your Card', but the ROM 3 can have 1,2 or 7 be Appletalk.]

The GS's builtin control panel (accessible by hitting control-open apple-escape at once or holding down the 'option' key on poweron) lets you configure many parts of your GS, from the system speed, screen/border colors, keyboard configurations, as well as what mode each slot is in: built-in port or whatever is in the physical slot.

Recommended configuration: 1.25 MB RAM lets you boot up GS/OS and use most smaller programs, though it may be tight. With 2 MB, you will have room for Desk Accessories. Go for 4MB if you want a RAM disk (useful if you don't have a hard drive) or do a lot of graphics work. Adding a hard drive is highly recommended for speed and System 6, otherwise you'll be doing a lot of disk swapping. You can also speed it up with a TransWarp GS or Zip GS, which can speed a GS up to around 14Mhz. [Both accelerators are currently not being sold new anymore, so you'll have to buy one used.]

The Apple ][e Emulation Card

This is a card that fits in certain Macs that lets one run Apple //e software. It is actually more like a //c because the card is not expandable like a //e. There is a place on the back of the card to plug in a UniDisk 5.25" and a joystick. Because the graphics are handled by the Mac, animation may be slow if you don't have a decent Mac.

According to Jim Nichol ( jnichol@tso.cin.ix.net), the supported Macs for such a card are:

The 630 Macs _do_ have LC-style PDS slots. However, the
630's cannot use a IIe Card because you cannot turn off 32-bit addressing
in a 630. The IIe Card _will_ work in all other Macs with an LC-style PDS
slot, including:

Section 3: Quick New User's Guide to the Apple II. Feb 1, 1998

I just got an Apple II. What should I be doing with it?

This is a new section and still undergoing a lot of updates. Feel free to suggest questions to answer here, etc

A: The first thing to do is to make sure the hardware is running and functional. Even if you don't have any disks yet, you should be able to connect up the parts and turn the power switch on. The unit should beep on poweron, and start accessing a drive, if present. Most Apple IIs (except the GS, //c, IIc+) will attempt to boot from the drive forever. If it's a //e, //c, IIc+ or IIGS, try a self-test to see what the hardware thinks of itself-- hold down the control and solid apple (solid apple was renamed option on later keyboards), and then press and release the reset button, finally letting up on control and solid apple. See FAQ section 8.10 if the GS reports an error from the self test.

After checking the hardware over, time to try booting some software. If you got boot disks with the system, use those. Otherwise, see FAQ section 7.2 for places to get an OS/Boot Disk from. If the system boots, great. If not, note any error messages, and report them online.

If your boot disk leaves you with a blinking cursor next to a ']' character on screen, you've been placed into Applesoft Basic, a great programming environment. (And '>' is for Integer Basic, usually only on very old systems). If you're looking for valid commands, try the Apple II DOS & commands FAQ at http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=DOS. If you're a bit of a programmer and want to experiment with a fun environment, try the Applesoft FAQ at http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=Applesoft_BASIC.

If you'd like to consider adding hardware to your Apple II, see either the list of Apple II vendors in FAQ Section 10.2, or this FAQ's section on adding hardware.

The following information on commercial software is provided as a recommendation of some of the most popular titles in existence. Feel free to take my recommendations with a grain of salt; while I own many of the following programs mentioned, I have no commercial interest with any of the software companies listed here. Most of my Apple II titles (what's released is GS-only) are either freeware or shareware. As I note several times below, see FAQ Section 10.2 for lists of vendors, etc.

While programming can be a very fun and rewarding pasttime, some would like to do other things. For general Word Processing, Database and Spreadsheet use, the program AppleWorks is a great commercial program, for Apple IIs with at least 128K of memory. AppleWorks versions 2.x or 3.x work great on an Apple II with 128K RAM, but are probably only available used now. Versions 4.x and 5.x require more RAM (and 5.x requires a 3.5" drive or HD), have many more features, and are sold by Scantron Quality Computers (FAQ section 10.2).

Apple II users wishing to telecommunicate with their Apple IIs should note that while there is no TCP/IP (or SLIP or PPP) for non-GS models, there are still plenty of ways to get online and do quite a lot. ProTERM 3.x is the best pre-GS telcomm program, formerly sold by Intrec Software, now available from the Lost Classics Project. With that, you just need a dialup shell account with a local ISP-- see FAQ section 7.1 Can my Apple II connect to the internet?

There were some Page Layout, painting, hypermedia and other minor desktop publishing programs for the non-GS Apple II series, but most were commercial and are no longer available new-- you'll have to check out the used software scene.

Many old arcade classics were ported to the Apple II, and remain commercial copyrighted software in most cases. You can still buy many classics from Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II library. Many of the Apple II ftp sites have a number of games; see FAQ Section 5 for where and how to download.

IIGS users can run AppleWorks classic, but if you have at least 1MB RAM and want a GUI environment for word processing, database, spreadsheet, page layout, and the like, look into AppleWorks GS v1.1. While it is fairly buggy in a few areas, it is still about the best GUI word processor and database for the GS. Alltech Electroncs (FAQ section 10.2) sells the AWGS 1.1 disks for $15 without manuals. It's a GUI program, so most people should be able to figure out the features without the manual. The Byte Works (same FAQ section) sells a more featureful and less buggy Spreadsheet product, while GraphicWriter III v2.0 from Seven Hills Software (same FAQ section) is a far superior Page Layout program. Anyone interested in any form of desktop publishing from the GS should look into Pointless, now sold by Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II-- it provides TrueType font capability to the GS.

For GS Paint Programs, DreamGrafix and Platinum Paint 2.0 were the best choices for most users. DreamGrafix could handle 256 and 3200 color pictures, while Platinum Paint provided a few more tools in other areas. Platinum Paint may still be sold by Scantron Quality Computers (FAQ section 10.2).

Apple IIGSs can use the same telecommunication capabilities available to pre-GSs (see above), but if they have at least 1MB RAM and possibly a HD, there is TCP/IP (currently SLIP only; PPP is promised.) For those with a dialup shell account, Seven Hills Software's Spectrum is a good telcomm program. For info on the TCP/IP capabilities, see FAQ section 7.1 Can my Apple II connect to the internet?

If into Hypermedia, look into either HyperStudio GS or HyperCard IIGS. HyperStudio, sold by Roger Wagner Publishing is less scriptable, but doesn't require as decked out GSs, and may be more intuitive and able to transfer files to the Mac and PC versions of that program. HyperCard IIGS is free (see FAQ section 5.2 for download points), and has many programming features builtin, but requires a GS with 1.5-2MB RAM and a HD.

GS Programmers should look into The Byte Works' line of GS compilers and interpreters for various languages (6502/65816 Assembly, C, Pascal, Modula-2, Integer Basic, Logo).

For other recommended programs, especially programs to help you deal with graphics, sounds & music from other platforms, see this FAQ's section on using files from other platforms (6.4-6.9).

The next section is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting of the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tony Diaz (email: tdiaz-a(in_a_circle)-apple2-dotsero-org), all rights reserved. This document can be freely copied so long as 1) it is not sold, 2) any sections reposted elsewhere from it are credited back to this FAQ with the FAQ's copyright info and official WWW location ( http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ) left in place.

This FAQ may not be sold, bundled on disks or CD-ROMs, reprinted in magazines, books, periodicals, or the like without prior consent from the maintainer, Tony Diaz. Exceptions are explicitly granted for Juiced.GS and _The_Lamp. Email me for permission otherwise.

Big thanks to Nathan Mates, the previous maintainer of this comp.sys.apple2 FAQ, for allowing it to live on after his departure and anyone who took up that mantle before him.

--- Begin part 2 of 4

Section 4: Adding Hardware:

6/13/97 4.1 What cards should go in which slots in my Apple II?

A:This depends on what the card is, and what model your Apple II is. Apple IIs traded the 'IRQ' hassles of IBM PCs for more specific functions as to which functions should go in each slot.

Slot 0

(only available on the Apple ][ and ][+) is pretty much reserved for 'Language Card' 16K RAM upgrades and ROM code for Integer/Applesoft Basic.

Slot 1

tends to be used for printers in pre-GS machines, and either a printer or used for Appletalk in GSs, though most software supports printers in any slot. The printer port in a //c, IIc Plus, and GS (optional-- see the control panel) are all bound to slot 1. On a ROM 00/01 GS with Appletalk on, one of slots 1 & 2 must be set to 'Your card'-- whichever card that is will have its associated port used for the Appletalk connection. In an appletalked ROM 00/01 GS, you may want to place your Hard Drive's card in slot 1 and boot off that. In the ROM 3, you can set slot 1 or 2 to Appletalk directly and use its associated port.

Slot 2

tends to be used for modems and other serial comm devices, though most software supports modems in any slot. The modem port in a //c, IIc Plus, and GS (optional-- see the control panel) are all bound to slot 2. On the GS, it can also be used for Appletalk; see slot 1 above.

Slot 3

is pretty much reserved for 80-column cards, as almost every piece of software under the sun that wants 80 columns assumes that they'll find such a card there. The //e has an extra 'auxillary' slot that provides an alternate slot 3 with extra functionality for RAM/video upgrades. With an 80-column card in the auxillary slot on a //e, a regular card should not be placed in the 'regular' slot 3 unless otherwise noted here. The GS's memory expansion slot does not affect slot 3, but programs wanting to use 80 columns want slot 3 set to that function.

The few exceptions to this use of slot 3 for 80 columns are cards that only take power from the slot, but don't need to communicate to the system, such as Accelerator boards, the 'Swyftcard' for the //e (mini word-processor and other tools in ROM), and certain video boards like Apple's Video Overlay Card (VOC) and Sequential System's Second Sight (SS). The accelerator boards on a GS require a short cable to the CPU socket on the motherboard, so they're limited by distance; slot 3 is a good place to park them. If you find that slot 3 is unavailable with a Zip GS, you can move the Zip to slots 1 or 2 by flipping the cable to the CPU socket on both ends. On a ROM 00/01, slot 3 provides extra video signals required by the VOC or SS, so those boards must go there. ROM 3 GSs provide those signals to slots 1-6, reducing the crowding for that slot.

Slot 4

is the most open of the slots. It tends to be used for mouse controller cards (//e, some //c's, emulated on GS), CP/M cards, or other things.

Slot 5

tends to be used by Smartport and other 3.5" controller cards, or more 5.25" disks. If you don't have such a drive, other cards can be placed in them.

Slot 6

is almost always used for 5.25" drive controller cards. Any software using Apple's UCSD Pascal OS on a 5.25" disk must boot from a 5.25" disk mapped to slot 6. If you don't use such programs or don't use 5.25" disks anymore, this slot may be used for some other functionality.

Slot 7

doesn't have as much of a defined role, but is useful for placing Hard Drive controllers in; Appletalk support in a ROM 00/01 GS and //es with the workstation card require that Slot 7 be set over to Appletalk. [With a GS, move the HD controller to a different slot, and set it to boot off there.]

Before the GS, Apple IIs were set to boot off the disk controller (any type, matching a few identification bytes) in the highest numbered slot. Depending on the type of device, if the disk is not ready, it'll either wait forever for a valid disk (such as the original Disk ][ controller), or give up and let the next highest slot boot. GSs can be set via the text control panel to either 'Scan' the slots in the same order, or boot directly off any slot.

If you occasionally want to boot off a different disk than your default (e.g. HD controller in slot 7, but want to play copy protected games on a 5.25" disk in slot 6), there are some utilities to let you cancel booting off the current drive and boot another. Eric Shepherd's 'ProBoot' program is a good utility to do just that: ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/addons/patches/proboot52.shk

Can I add more memory to my Apple II?

A: Yes. The hard part is getting machines before the GS to recognize all of it. The Apple ][ and ][+ have a practical limit of about 64K, which is accomplished by the 16K language card in slot 0. [Some accelerators provided 128K, as well as some very old ram cards, but I don't have any real info on that.]

The //e had the widest variety of memory expansion options. The AUX slot used for 80-column cards could also handle memory expansion-- Apple's own Extended 80-column card provided an extra 64K of memory. Other cards in that slot could reportedly add several megs of memory. There were also RAM cards for slots 1-7, the so-called 'slinky' cards, also capable of adding a meg or more. Most of these cards are only available used, but Sequential Systems is still making and selling a 1MB //e RAM card.

Later models of the Apple //c had an internal memory expansion port, which RAM 'cards' could be added internally-- see the section on Apple //cs for how to determine if a //c could have RAM added. Such RAM cards are only available used; Sequential used to make one, but it's not listed anymore on their WWW page.

The problem with adding extra RAM to Apple IIs (before the GS) is that not much software would take advantage of it at all. Only a few programs like Appleworks had any form of support-- versions 1.x or 2.x needed to be patched to recognize more memory, 3.0 and up could use an externally supplied file. [To get the patch or the file, see the disks that came with the RAM card.] Applesoft and Integer Basic, most games, and the like don't care about any RAM beyond the 48-128K they require to run.

The GS, due to its processor design, can directly address up to 16MB of memory (about 2MB is reserved in the GS's design for ROM), though RAM cards only go up to 8MB in a ROM 01 and 7MB in a ROM 3. [The 1MB on the ROM 3's motherboard reduces the RAM card's range] Sequential Systems and Alltech Electronics still sell 2-8MB RAM boards for the GS; there were also lots of other manufacturers. Alltech's Sirius board takes 1MB 30-pin SIMMs, so if you have a cheap source of them, you may find it cheaper to buy an empty board and populate it yourself.

Going to 7 or 8 MB of RAM on a GS is not always recommended. A number of devices, especially Apple's Hi-speed SCSI board, cannot handle DMA (Direct Memory Access, used to speed Hard Drive cards and accelerators) past the first 4MB of RAM, so you may take a performance hit, or the board may not work at all. The RamFAST SCSI board appears to be better about supporting past 4MB RAM, but there are still reports of problems.

The GS can also have //e 'slinky' cards plugged in, but aside from Appleworks and ramdisk support, the memory on these boards is NOT available to GS programs. This is because they are accessed via slots 1-7 manually, one byte at a time in sequential order, while the 65816 wants program RAM to be directly accessible in random order. It would require rewriting a program to address slinky cards from a GS, and as the numbers of those are extremely limited, no real support for them was ever widespread.

Can I accelerate my Apple II?

A: Yes. Over the years, many accelerators were produced for the varios models in the Apple II series. Most of these were slot-based cards such as the AE Transwarp 1-3, though the ZipChip (4 and 8 Mhz models) and RocketChip (5 and 10 Mhz models) were drop-in processor replacements. For the GS, the Transwarp GS and the Zip GS were the only options. No accelerator for any Apple II is available new anymore-- you'll have to look for one used. A separate FAQ for upgrading ZIP GS or TransWarp GS accelerators is available at http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=Accelerator_16_bit.

For only a few dollars, you can buy a faster 65C02/65816 from an electronics parts catalog. However, this most likely won't do you a bit of good without an ungradeable accelerator card. This is because the Apple II's system bus runs at 1Mhz, and provides a 1Mhz signal to the processor socket. The processor derives its timing off that signal; running it at a speed under what it's rated at is perfectly safe and legal. Accelerator cards or chips provide their own oscillator at a faster speed, plus the logic necessary for a chip to interface with the slower 1Mhz bus.

Can I hook up a modem to my Apple II?

A: Yes, most external serial modems should work great with an Apple II. Models such as the //c, IIc+ and IIGS have a serial port built in; the ][, ][+ and //e do not and will need to have one added.

An Apple ][, ][+ or //e with Apple's Super Serial Card and an external modem that's fast enough can connect at 9600 baud fine; 19200 may be iffy. (Past 19200 pretty much requires an accelerated Apple II). There is an addon to the Super Serial Card called the Turbo ASP that has a theoretical maximum of 230,400; see the entry for Lightning Systems in the dealer's section of this FAQ.

The very first revision of the //c motherboard had a faulty serial setup that prevented most machines from reliable serial communications faster than 2400 baud. See the section on the //c in this FAQ for information on how to determine if a system is likely to be affected. Various companies sell cables for the Apple //c's more oddball 5-pin serial ports; check out Atlaz Computer Supply (516-239-1854) or LYBEN Computer Systems at (800) 493-5777.

The GS (and probably the IIc Plus) and the appropriate software (such as ProTERM, Spectrum or ANSITerm) can connect at up to 57600 baud. (Once again, an accelerator is recommended for the higher speeds).

For any Apple II, speeds past 9600 pretty much require you to get a 'Hardware Handshaking' modem cable. This is a cable with connections between the handshaking pins (cheapo cables may only have the 3 wires necessary to do simple serial) and thus allows the computer to tell the modem that it is temporarily too busy to receive data, so the modem doesn't send more data until the computer's ready.

Internal modems for Apple IIs only seem to have gone up to 2400 baud, which was fast for the time the boards were made, but is now fairly outdated. You cannot use internal PC modems in Apple IIs.

Can I hook up a LaserWriter, DeskJet, etc to my Apple //e?

A: A number of them. The best bet is probably the HP DeskJet series.

Most supported printers have either regular serial or parallel connections. The tricky part is getting the software to do what you want. The DeskJet, for example will print very nice-looking text with regular old "PR#1". But if you want to change the font or print graphics, you may have to purchase some software. One excellent program for these types of printers is PublishIt 4.

For AppleWorks fans, there is the program called SuperPatch. Among it's patches is a cool DeskJet 500 (most DeskJet 6xx printers should be compatible, but check the documentation) printer driver. You can print sideways, and change fonts with normal AppleWorks commands. The DeskJet driver is built in to AW 4.0 and later.

The Apple Stylewriter family is not supported by any //e program to my knowledge.

Can I hook up a Laser printer, ink jet, or bubble jet printer to my Apple IIGS?

A:In short: a number of them, but not all. Please look through the following list to check if a particular model you're looking at is supported. Also, the following applies to all programs which support the GS system toolbox methods for talking to printers through drivers. Most GS programs support this; Print Shop GS is an exception-- it'll pretty much only work with the printers listed in the program, and then only at its printing resolutions.

On the GS, you can hook up most LaserWriters made by Apple via AppleTalk-- if it supports Postscript and Appletalk, it should work. [Apple's Quickdraw printers are not usable.] A GS program can typically print to a LaserWriter if it's connected to the GS via AppleTalk; just install the LaserWriter drivers from the System 6 disks. Note that some LaserWriters from Apple may be 'Quickdraw,' not true Postscript printers, so they won't work from the GS. The Laserwriter, Laserwriter II, LW IINT, LW IINTX are all known to work fine.

Of the Apple Stylewriter family, ONLY the original Stylewriter will work on the GS, and then only from GS/OS with the System 6 drivers. As Apple has not written drivers or released the specifications so that drivers could be written by third parties, none of the rest of the Stylewriter models works when connected to a GS.

The HP DeskWriter family is mostly only for Macintoshes; the DeskJet 3xx, 5xx or 6xx (xx= any 2 numbers, plus some optional letters) printer families is much more friendly to all models of the Apple II. If you get a DeskJet, or PaintJet, etc, you can hook them up via a parallel printer card or serial cable depending on what ports the printer has. The exceptions to this are HP's recent 'Windows Only' printers, such as the HP DJ 820C models, which don't work at all with Apple IIs.

But, in order to use pretty much any inkjet or bubblejet printer that the GS can talk to effectively, you will need Harmonie (originally published by Vitesse; now taken over by Joe Kohn's Shareware Solutions II (better-- supports color printing on HP inkjets that have such support built in) or Independence (cheaper, but only black & white printing) from Seven Hills. They are new printer drivers for GS/OS programs only. These two programs extend the ranges of printers supported by the GS. If you want to print from an 8-bit program, see the previous question.

Harmonie's drivers also support a number of printer modes that other printers can handle. Apparently the Canon BJ-200e works well with Harmonie 2.1's Epson LQ or Epson LQ 4000 drivers.

As provided by Richard Der, here is a list of printers and such supported by Harmonie; there may be other printers that are compaible with such models listed here, but are not listed. Nobody's gotten a list of printers supported by Independence to me yet, unfortunately.

Printers supported by Harmonie:

Printer Type

Notes

Canon 1080

Canon Dot Matrix

HP DeskJet (or DeskWriter) Ink-Jet--

DeskJet

Manual states all DeskJet and DeskJet 5xx drivers

DeskJet 500C

work with DeskWriter series of the same number

DeskJet 520

using the high speed Printer 57.6 serial port

DeskJet 550C

driver included with on the disk)

DeskJet 560C

*560C driver is compatible with DJ/DW 600C and 660C

printers. The DJ 400 is like th DJ 600C. The DJ 560C

driver is listed as a 600x300dpi one whereas all the

rest are 300x300dpi. [Other models like the 680C/682C

should work also.]

Epson LQ

(Epson LQ drivers work with Canon BJ models for

Epson LQ 4000

hi-res 360dpi printing. Some older models have

Epson LQ 800

dip switches that must be set to enable automatic

Epson emulation -> for example, the BJ-200e

requires DIP switch 12 to be set to ON. The printer

manual should say what to do for the specific model.

BJ-10e, BJ 100, BJ-200, BJ-210, BJ-4100, and BJ-600

models also list Epson LQ emulation and should work

with one or more of these drivers.)

Epson MX 80

Epson 9-pin Dot Matrix

LaserJet

(Newer LaserJet models also work with these drivers

LaserJetIIP

as are any HP compatible laser printers)

LaserJet III

Printer Type

Notes

Misc. Dot Matrix Printers

Okimate 2

Panasonic 1124

Pinwriter

Misc. Ink-Jet--

HP PaintJet

QuadJet

Users have reported that the HP Deskjet 690C works well with the Harmonie 560C driver, as expected.

I'd like to to see this list contiain of all printers that are 1) officially supported by Harmonie/Independence, 2) not officially listed, but a driver exists that works well with them and 3) don't work at all with Apple IIs.

Can I use Macintosh RGB or IBM VGA/SVGA Monitors with my ][?

A: Not normally. Even with the GS's RGB monitor connector, the GS puts out a 15Khz horizontal refresh signal. Most modern monitors (notable exceptions are the old NEC Multisync 1 and 2 monitors) require the signal to be at least 30Khz, and thus won't display the picture. If you have a question on whether a given monitor will work, check the manual for it or contact the manufacturer to see if it'll support 15Khz horizontal syncs. Older Apple II RGB cards (such as those to extend AE Ramworks cards) should have the same problem.

The one way to bridge the "use Apple II monitors with Apple IIs" rule of thumb is to purchase the Second Sight (tm) VGA display board from Sequential Systems. (See the dealers section of this FAQ for their address and WWW page). The Second Sight mirrors Apple II video modes fairly well onto the VGA display, as well as supplying some VGA modes that programmers have begun to tap into. With it, you can connect VGA/SVGA monitors to your //e or GS

If you are desperate for a monitor, the Apple II line puts out a video signal from the back port that can be hooked into the 'line in' port of a NTSC VCR or modern TVs-- just use a male-male RCA phono jack, which electronics shops should carry. Alternatively, a 'RF Converter' (try your local Radio Shack or the equivalent) can be used to connect that signal to a TV without a 'line in' connector.

Can I use my GS Monitor on a Mac or PC?

A:As stated above in using other monitors on the GS, the GS monitor expects a 15Khz horizontal refresh signal. In addition, the monitor itself has an 0.37" dot pitch, which as far as modern monitors go, that is atrocious. It'd be best to get a monitor designed for other systems on them.

If trying to connect to a Macintosh, only the original Mac Nubus 8-bit (256-color) video card is known to work with the GS's monitor. Once connected, you'll be able to do 640x480 in interlaced mode. [Interlaced mode is flickery to many people, and a very subpar video mode]

I have never heard of anyone successfully connecting the GS monitor to a PC; you'd need to find a video board you could program to get the 15Khz horizontal refresh signal out, and then you'd still probably be locked to the 640x480 interlaced mode.

Can the Apple II connect to keyboards, mice, etc. from other platforms?

A: IBM PC keyboards are almost impossible to connect to any Apple II directly; the only possibility is to buy a device used to connect such a keyboard to a Macintosh, and try that with your GS. [The 'PC Transporter' addon card supports PC keyboards, but only in IBM PC mode; can't use them for Apple II programs.]

IBM PC Serial Mice (usually have 9-pin serial connectors) can be connected to Apple //es with Sequential System's board. Although the connector is shaped identically, the //c, //e, and GS's 9-pin joystick port in back is not a serial port; serial mice just won't work if connected to it. (If you have a GS, just buy a Mac ADB mouse and use that)

Most Macintosh (except for the ones with the phone jack connector, such as the original Mac and Mac 512) keyboards and mice are Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) devices. ADB made its debut on the Apple IIGS; it was later adopted by the Mac SE and other computers in the line. This means that most Mac ADB mice and keyboards will work on the GS. There are no reported incompatabilities with Mac mice that I've heard about, though multibutton mice may only have one button work on the GS.

Macintosh keyboards may not work; here is a list of ones known to work and not, compiled by Bradley P. Von Haden (bpvh@primenet.com)

The Apple IIgs can use some Mac ADB keyboards. I have compiled the following list of keyboards that do and do not work with an Apple IIgs. Additions/corrections encouraged.

Some have noted that the Adesso NUForm keyboard works only on a ROM 3 system, but not a ROM 00/01. The 'MACPride Strong Man' keyboard is reported to work fine on a GS. Also, the 'Alphasmart' keyboard (http://www.alphasmart.com) is reported by its manufacturer as GS-compatible.

I want a Y-adapter for my GS keyboard.

A: Redmond Cable has an ADB Y-connector cable for separating your mouse from the side of your keyboard (also can be used to work around a failing ADB port on the keyboard). See the Resources section (10.2) of this FAQ,

Can I hook up a scanner up to my //e or IIGS? Can it do OCR?

A: Yes and Yes. (OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition -- the ability to convert a scan into text) Just pick up a Quickie scanner (by Vitesse) and InWords (by WestCode Software). You can scan 4" columns (you must have 512K to 1 Meg) and can even paste them together to make 8" scans. Then you can use InWords to "read" text and put it into a text file or AppleWorks Word Processor file.

[Update, 3/15/97: it does not appear that InWords is being sold anymore by WestCode software. I've emailed the company to try and determine its status.] Apple put partially completed support for a few Apple flatbed scanners onto the System 6.0 Golden Master CD, but the test program for it could not save a scan to a file. No programs are known to support various popular TWAIN-compliant scanners such as those from HP.

What about clock/calendar capabilities?

The GS is the only machine in the Apple II family to have a built-in clock/calendar. There were a number of clock/calendar cards for the ][, ][+ and //e. ProDOS 8 had built-in support for the Thunderclock' without any modifications; other cards may require their own drivers to be installed, or may emulate a Timemaster H.O. The 'No Slot Clock' (still being sold by Alltech Electronics and possibly others) fits under a ROM chip in the ][, ][+, //e, //c and IIc Plus, allowing them clock capabilities.

ProDOS 8 does have a problem in its year calculating code-- the designers assumed that a table holding only 6 years would be sufficient. They were wrong. You'll have to patch ProDOS every few years to keep it up to date; a text file including a Basic program is on Apple's FTP site: ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/slotclock-patch.txt

If you don't mind some soldering, you can make this cable up yourself. Take a look at h**p://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/diskiicable.html WE NEED A COPY OF THIS

Can the Apple II connect to 3.5" drives or flopticals for other platforms?

A: For 400K or 800K Mac 3.5" drives, in general, no. Apple's 3.5" drive that was sold with Apple IIGSs has logic to sense which machine it is hooked up to (Apple II or Macintosh) and it works accordingly. Most 3rd party drives don't bother to put in Apple II support in their drives. Some may work if you hook them up to a UDC instead of an Apple 3.5" inch card. Old style Mac 800k drives are very slow.

Mac 1.44MB (High Density) 3.5" drives can be used if you have both both the High Density 3.5" drive and the new Apple 3.5" superdrive controller card. If you don't have both, you will only be able to do regular density (800K). Of course, you will also need High Density Disks. ProDOS 8 programs not only recognize the 1.44MB disks, but most programs format and recognize HD disks just fine. You can even boot off of a HD disk, allowing plenty of room for GS/OS Desk Accessories and such. There are a few drawbacks: you cannot boot copy-protected software or some FTA demos. Also, you can't daisy-chain a 5.25" off a HD card. Also, it takes up a slot, even on the GS.

Unfortunately, Apple never seemed to have sold very many of the Superdrive controller card, while used superdrives are apparently plentiful, so you may have a hard time getting your hands on a superdrive controller card.

The SCSI Floptical drive (also rare, but may be a bit easier to find) can also read and write 1.44MB and 720K disks, as well as its special 21MB disks, but not 400K or 800K Apple II disks. You'd need a SCSI controller card, and special drivers with an Apple High Speed SCSI board or a recent ROM version with the RamFAST board. For more information, please see the Apple II & Floptical FAQ at http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=Floptical, and this FAQ's section on SCSI.

IBM PC 3.5" drives (as well as all sorts of low and high density 5.25" drives) can be connected only with the (discontinued) Applied Engineering PC Transporter card, or the Bluedisk card from SHH Systems (See the section on dealers and hardware addons of this FAQ for their address and WWW page).

There are also reports that the "CTI Drive" allows you to hook up IBM 3.5" and 5.25" disk drives (no High Density support yet) to your Apple II. [IBM drives are cheaper] Some software is included to read MS/DOS disks on your Apple. Otherwise, ProDOS and GS/OS recognize them like normal drives. Unfortunately, information on this "CTI drive" is minimal at best, and nobody's responded to my requests for more information on them.

How about hooking up cheap IDE Hard Drives?

A: ///SHH Systeme makes several IDE controller cards for the Apple II family; they claim to be as fast to faster than the RamFAST card.See http://users.ids.net/~kerwood/shh.html, or contact jlange@tasha.muc.de for details like technical specs, pricing, and S/H procedure.

Their Microdrive card supported only 256MB of capacity per drive, and 2 drives per card. The MicroDrive/Turbo supports 2GB per drive and 2 drives per card. [Sizes of drives are always increasing, but you should be able to connect a drive larger than that.]

Can an Apple II connect to a SCSI device?

SCSI is a protocol (method of transmitting data) that lets you hook up to 8 SCSI devices on a SCSI bus (SCSI devices connected together). There are Hard Drives, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, scanners, and more available as SCSI devices.

To get SCSI on an Apple II, you need to buy and install a SCSI card. (//cs and IIc Pluss have no native SCSI cards, but Chinook (later bought out by Sequential) made a Smartport capable drive as your only choice for HDs). At first, there was the Apple Rev 'C' SCSI card (named after the final ROM version--all previous versions MUST be upgraded to work with current software). There were several clones from the likes of CMS and Chinook. Then Apple came out with it's High Speed DMA SCSI card. This has the ability to do Direct Memory Access to the RAM in your computer, which speeds things up. This created a lot of problems with cards that were not DMA compatible.

CV Technologies (bought out by Sequential Systems) also has a DMA SCSI card called the RamFast. This card has 256K or 1MB of on-board RAM to make it even faster than Apple's card. It can also supply terminator power if you drive does not supply it. Both of the new cards support things like SCSI tape backup units, removable SCSI drives, SCSI CD-ROM, and of course SCSI hard drives. Both the new cards also require an Enhanced //e. RamFasts have had their ROM upgraded many times; you may want to look into getting the latest if you have removable devices such as Flopticals, CD-Roms, Zip Disks, and tape drives.

Most fixed and removable SCSI disks can be connected to Apple IIs with the addition of a SCSI card. People have used Zip, Syquests, Bernoulli, CD-ROMs, Floptical devices. With older revisions of the SCSI cards, they may NOT recognize them as removable devices, leading to crashes and/or data corruption if you switch removable disks with the computer on. Most SCSI HDs can also be used, but certain SCSI II devices that insist that the SCSI card have a SCSI ID (the Quantum Fireball seems to be one of the main culprits) won't work with at least the RamFAST 3.01f ROM version and possibly others.

You must manually give each device it's own unique ID number from 0-7. The SCSI card is usually set to 7. On a SCSI chain, there must be a Terminator (a bunch of resistors) at each end. Some drives have internal terminators (3 small yellow-orange packs) that can be switched on and off, and some drives come with an external terminator (a "plug" to put on the back of the drive). Nothing other than the ends of the chain should be terminated.

Also, somebody on the bus must supply terminator power (one of the SCSI lines). If There are any problems (multiple things with the same ID, too much termination or not enough, or no terminator power), you may be able to use the drive, but your data will get corrupted. Most of the time, the computer will refuse to recognize the drive.

There are two types of SCSI cables: the 50 pin Centronics-type (like on parallel printers) or the 25-pin "D" connector. The 50-pin is the SCSI standard, the 25-pin is the Apple standard. There are also cables with the 50-pin centronics connector on one side and the 25 pin "D" connector on the other.

Tips on setting up a SCSI system:

Joe Walters, bird@mcs.net has updated the RamFast/SCSI manual, and allowed it to be posted online. The WWW version is available at

You can have multiple drives on one SCSI card, just make sure you remove the termination on all the drives but the last one. This is because the newer SCSI cards are terminated (and they count as a SCSI device).

Always check that the cords are plugged in properly. Never connect/disconnect anything when the computer is on.

SCSI ID numbers 0 and 7 tend to have special meanings; the Apple High Speed SCSI displays multiple copies of partitions online if a drive has that ID. Use 1-6 instead.

The Apple High Speed SCSI card is not DMA compatible past the first 4.25MB of RAM on a GS ROM 00/01 (5MB on a ROM 3). If you've got more than that amount of RAM, and are noticing some problems in your system (especially with Alltech's Sirius Ram card), you may want to consider turning off DMA.

The computer will boot the hard drive with the highest SCSI ID, which should be ID 6.

Try letting the drive 'warm up' for 15 seconds before turning the computer on. The SCSI cards look for drives only at startup, and may ignore any drives that are not ready.

If problems persist, try turning off DMA. If this helps, you may have a non-DMA compatible card, such as the early versions of the TransWarp, early versions of the GS RAM, or any 8-bit accelerator. Alternately, try setting up a RAM disk for all but 4 MB. Some RAM cards can only do DMA in the first bank.

Check that each device has a unique ID. Most drives have a thumbwheel on the back to set the ID. Your SCSI card (yes, it counts too) is probably ID 7. Number your drives from 6 downwards for best compatibility. The IDs have nothing to do with what slot the card is in.

Is there a terminator at each end of the SCSI bus? (the DMA cards are terminated, and some drives are internally terminated.)

Try the software that came with the card. It may give helpful diagnostic messages (I.E. the Apple DMA SCSI utilities-- Does it say "No Apple SCSI card found" or "No SCSI devices found"?)

RamFast boards have gone through many ROM revisions. The latest is 3.01f; if you want to use any removable disks (Zip/Syquest disks, CD-Roms, Flopticals, tape backups), you should contact Sequential Systems (see above for address) to purchase a ROM upgrade for your board.

Do you get the message "Unable to Load ProDOS"? If so, it's booting your drive but you have no system software on it. Try hitting Control-Reset, then PR#5 (or PR#6) to boot a floppy. Then install the system software (i.e. ProDOS or GS/OS).

In extreme cases, try reformatting the drive, repartitioning, and re-installing the System software.

If the drive access light blinks in a regular pattern before the computer is turned on, it is telling you that it has a hardware malfunction. It needs to be serviced.

Did you try re-installing the System software? Many times, the data on a drive will get corrupted if you run the drive with improper terminators or conflicting SCSI ID's. Sometimes you will not notice the corrupted data until after you fix the problem. If re-installing the System software helps, it was probably a software problem, not a hardware problem.

The Apple HS DMA SCSI card requires an Enhanced //e. It will not work on the older //e without an Enhancement Kit.

To really put a drive through it's paces, copy a LOT of stuff from one partition to another (copy the entire partition if you can). If there is a problem with DMA or SCSI ID's, it will probably show up as a strange GS/OS error. (GS only)

Make sure you do not have the Apple SCSI drivers installed if you have a RamFast. It may cause random problems (they leave an interrupt handler dangling if they can't find their card.) (GS only)

Make sure you are booting the right slot. If the card is in slot 7, you can set the startup slot to Scan or 7. (GS only)

If you boot up and only 1 partition shows up, you need to install the SCSI drivers. (GS only)

If you boot up and it says "Drive XXX is already on the desktop" over and over: Probably a SCSI ID problem. (GS only)

At least one device must supply terminator power to the bus (Pin 26). The Apple Cards do not supply this, and some drives don't either. Result: The drive won't be seen by any software.

Some CMS Platinum drives had pin 40 disconnected for obscure Mac compatibility reasons. This can cause problems with the Apple IIs.

Make sure you use the drivers from GS/OS, and not the ones that ship with the Apple HS SCSI card. (Doesn't apply to RamFast).

To low-level format an AE Vulcan drive, go into PART.MANAGER, move the highlight to "format" and type "AE". Then say yes to all the prompts.

What about internal Hard Drives?

There were a few models of internal HDs made for Apple IIs over the years. Applied Engineering's Vulcan and Applied Ingenuity's InnerDrive were both power supply replacements that had the HD in the power supply and a cable running off to a card in one of the slots. These tended to fail a lot; to low-level format an AE Vulcan drive, go into PART.MANAGER, move the highlight to "format" and type "AE". Then say yes to all the prompts.

Alltech Electronics is currently manufacturing their 'Focus' line of internal hard drive cards, which is a HD on a card with all of the necessary interface on the card. Contact them for drive sizes (20-500MB versions appear to be available) and pricing.

What about a Parallel port Zip drive?

This is theoretically possible, but would require a very extensive amount of work. Your best bet is to get a SCSI Zip drive, and connect that to an Apple II SCSI card (see section 4.15 above), and use that.

Here's a rundown on the problems with a parallel Zip drive: such a connection requires a bidirectional (2-way communication) parallel card. 95+% of all Apple II parallel cards are unidirectional and won't work, except for the rather rare Apple Profile controller card. Next, there's the issue of talking to it. Thanks to the publically available Linux kernel source code, you could examine driver source and port it to the Apple II. After that, only the GS appears able to read PC-formatted Zip Disks (see section 5.8 "How do I read/write files from other platforms with an Apple IIGS?"); no non-GS reader exists to my knowledge.

What's this ProFILE hard disk, and how do I use it?

A: Apple's ProFILE drive was a 5 or 10MB HD with a parallel port connection. While the cable may fit (a missing pin in the connector didn't block the connection) fine in the SCSI port on an Apple II SCSI card or Macintosh, it will NOT work as a SCSI device. It requires a special (and apparently much rarer) ProFILE interface board to fit in an Apple II or III. Regular parallel cards for the Apple II were not bidirectional transmission capable, so they won't work. As that drive was much slower than SCSI, and is now much rarer, general users should consider going for a SCSI or IDE controller.

How about a replacement power supply?

A: There are several places that sell replacement power supplies, such as Alltech Electronics and other replacement parts stores. [See section 10.2 for addresses, etc of these vendors]

If you don't mind having the power supply not inside your Apple II, Stephen Buggie takes power supplies designed for IBM PCs, and fits them with plugs for either GS or ][, ][+, or //e. These sit outside your Apple II (which helps reduce heat inside the case), and are reported to work quite well. Various levels of power (150W - 250W) models are available. For more information, contact Stephen Buggie at buggie@unm.edu.

The next section is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting of the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tony Diaz (email: tdiaz-at-apple2-dot-org), all rights reserved. This document can be freely copied so long as 1) it is not sold, 2) any sections reposted elsewhere from it are credited back to this FAQ with the FAQ's copyright info and official WWW location (http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ) left in place.

This FAQ may not be sold, bundled on disks or CD-ROMs, reprinted in magazines, books, periodicals, or the like without prior consent from the maintainer, Tony Diaz. Exceptions are explicitly granted for Juiced.GS and _The_Lamp. Email me for permission otherwise.

Big thanks to Nathan Mates, the previous maintainer of this comp.sys.apple2 FAQ, for allowing it to live on after his departure and anyone who took up that mantle before him.

--- Begin part 4 of 4

Section 7: Some Common Questions

Can my Apple II connect to the Internet?

A: Short answer: yes, any 80 (maybe even 40) column Apple II with a serial card (and almost always a modem) can connect to an Internet Service Provider that provides a shell account. (Please note that "connect to the internet" is the better term for it; avoid the media's popularizing of metaphors related to driving or surfing.)

Longer answer: As of 3/8/97, the only available method is to have a serial (modem or null modem) connection to another computer which can translate and run stuff on it. Most of the time, this means that you will need to find an Internet Service Provider (ISP) which supports a plain "shell" connection. (Telling them you have an Apple II will likely confuse them; just tell them that a VT-100 shell is what you want). For a list of ISPs, try checking local newspaper advertisements, or drop by http://www.thelist.com.

This will give you a straight text connection to the internet; no fancy graphics. Yes, it's a lot less eye candy, but the advantage is that files transfer faster. You can still download files, pictures, and the like, and deal with them later. Once you are signed up for a shell account, you will need to connect up, usually via modem and terminal program. 99% of shell accounts are in unix systems; you should talk to the tech support desk of wherever you get your connection from for information on how to do items such as email, usenet, and the like.

If you have a GS have Seven Hills Software's Spectrum (modem communication program), they have just announced a set of addons that allow WWW browsing from an Apple II. According to their WWW press releases at http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/iigs/sis/, you will need a GS with 4MB RAM (HD and accelerator recommended), Spectrum 2.1, a modem, and a GEnie or dialup Unix shell account. It does not appear to support any form of TCP/IP connection such as SLIP or PPP.

If you do not have a GS capable of running Spectrum's browser, the program 'lynx' runs on unix/vms/etc machines and lets people access the World Wide Web and display it on VT-100 terminals. It's not on every system by default; if not, ask your sysadmins to install it. The default ProTerm setup for VT100 is not too friendly to Lynx-- you will need to turn off inverse text for 'bold' and 'underlined' text if on. (Consult your manual for information on how to do so). Alternatively, when starting Lynx, you may want to start it with the "-show_cursor" option. As noted above; you can download graphics to your Apple II and view a number of formats-- see the section on dealing with graphics for more information.

As of 28 Aug 1997, Richard Bennett's freeware implementation of a TCP/IP stack for the GS is in BETA initial release, and available from its home page at http://www.zip.com.au/~kashum/marinetti/. It appears to support SLIP (PPP promised for availability shortly) right now, and is not guaranteed to be fully functional or stable.

One package is in a state of perpetual near completion: GS/TCP for the GNO/ME unix-like environment for the IIGS. As of January 13th 1998, it is NOT released yet. GNO/ME requires 1.5-2MB of RAM and a HD on your GS to use, so you may not be able to run it with your current setup. For more information from the author, Derek Taubert, see http://www.geeks.org/~taubert/gstcp/index.html. Documentation on GNO/ME in general can be found at http://www.gno.org/gno/ .

I don't have an OS/Boot disk for my Apple II or want an update. Where do I get it from?

First, consult the following chart to help determine what you should be looking to run on your Apple II-- there's a lot of possible OSs. Downloads usually require you to have comm programs up and running on your Apple II and/or Mac with a 3.5" disk that fully supports 800K disks (a lot of Powermacs are flakey in that area). Without such an ability, see below for places to purchase/copy it from. See FAQ Section 2.* on the Apple II models or FAQ section 7.7 on determing RAM to determine what your Apple II has if the limitations in the following are confusing.

Any Apple II, 5.25" drive, 32K or more RAM: DOS 3.3. This is not legally available online to the best of my knowledge, as Apple still holds the copyright and distribution restrictions on it. However, Diversi-DOS, a Shareware enhanced version (may require 48K or 64K RAM) of it with many speedups is available online: ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple8/OS/divdos41c.bxy

All of the above were always distributed as full versions of the system software; there is no need to 'upgrade' thru system 4 or 5 to get to 6. Consequently, don't look for any patches to save download time; those never existed.

[Note: there are some other versions of the System Disks not listed above; the ones listed are the latest versions, which you should be running to get as many features and as few bugs as possible. Most of the older (and especially the very buggy) versions are not available online for that reason.]

Without an operating system, you can't run a comm program to download the operating system, so you're in a bit of a quandry. One method is to call 1-800-SOS-APPL and try and find an Apple II user group in your area. They should be able copy things for you.

If you are unable to find a local user group, one of the next best options is to contact Steve Cavanaugh (section 10.2), who is licensed to copy ProDOS 8 [runs on pretty much all Apple IIs with at least 64K of RAM], along with a 5.25" disk full of comm programs, etc. The comm program disk costs only $3, which is a great deal. Ask him for more details if interested.

Alltech Electronics (see FAQ section 10.2) is licensed to sell many of the above, such as GS System Software 5.0.4 and 6.0.1, Apple // System Disk 4.02, and ProDOS 1.1.1. Contact them for details on pricing, etc.

How I connect my Apple II to an Appletalk (and/or Ethertalk) network?

A: Appletalk support is pretty much available for the //e and GS only; the functionality never made it into the ][, ][+, //c or IIc+ models.

Appletalk software on the Apple II will allow you to connect to 'Appleshared' volumes on server machines (Macs, WinNT4.x, and many unix platforms), and also certain printers shared on the network; there is no current way for Apple IIs to share their local drives to any other Appletalked boxen. Also, note that you'll need some sort of Appletalk to Ethernet gateway if you want to use Appletalk with any non-Apple hardware; see next section below on Ethernet.

Filesharing over Appletalk is possible if the non-Apple II machines share their drives. Macs can do that with System 7.x and 8.x's personal filesharing; see the documentation and online help, as this is outside the scope of this FAQ. Windows NT 4.0 is reported to support Appleshare also (see its docs and help again); Unix machines can use the 'Columbia Appletalk Protocol or for for Linux, see http://thehamptons.com/anders/netatalk/. [Netatalk supports sharing volumes and printers]. To access shared volumes, turn the sharing on the host machine, and from the GS, use the 'Appleshare' graphical control panel to connect up.

Booting an Apple II over Appletalk is not a trivial task, even though the System 6.0/6.0.1 include "disks" to support it. To boot an Apple II over Appletalk, you must also own Apple's Appleshare 2.x or 3.x software for Macs; 1.x or 4.x (and anything newer than that) won't work. This software reportedly cost near $1,000 new; while you may be able to find it for less nowadays, the cost and slowness of Appletalk may not make this worth it. You may either want to boot the GS off a 3.5" and run applications from an Appleshared volume, or invest in a HD for the Apple II (Alltech Electronics has 20MB HDs for $59 as of 8/19/97, which will prove far faster and overall more useful).

Some printers can be connected to an Appletalk network; Imagewriter IIs with an addon board (either Apple's board or Sequential System's 'MegaBUFF'/'Q:Talk lto' boards) can be networked, as can all Apple Laser printers supporting PostScript and the Appletalk serial port. Although several inkjet printers support Appletalk (various Stylewriters and HP Deskwriters), there is no GS support for them over a network, even if they'll work when directly connected.

To get Appletalk running on a //e, you will need a //e Workstation card, which provides an Appletalk port, and the associated software, which is bundled with it. That way, you can connect to an Appletalk network and use shared drives and/or printers. Once that is ready, install the Appletalk software.

From a GS, Appletalk is slightly more complex in terms of deciding which slots you want to dedicate to it. In a ROM 01, Appletalk requires turning slot 7 to 'Appletalk' (use the control panel, accessible by pressing Control-Open Apple-Escape), and either one of slots 1 or 2 set to 'Your Card'. If you have something in slot 7 that you care about (usually a hard drive controller), what you can do is move that card to slot 1 or 2, and set the boot slot to 1 or 2. A ROM 3 is simpler-- set one of slots 1 or 2 to Appletalk. The Appletalk cable plugs into the back of your GS in the printer port (ROM 1 if slot 1 is 'Your Card', ROM 3 if slot 1 is Appletalk) or the modem port (slot 2 is Your card/Appletalk). Once the GS is set up, from the System 6.0 or 6.0.1 (recommended) installer, select "Custom Install" and then select the Appletalk, Appleshare, Appletalk'd Imagewriter and/or Laserwriter packages to install.

Once you have Appletalk set up on the various machines, you'll need to decide how to connect them. If there are only 2 machines and both are connecting via the serial port, a printer (i.e. null modem) cable between the two will suffice. If you want to connect more than two devices, you can use either Apple's Localtalk wiring scheme (expensive and pretty much phased out) or the 'Phonenet' style connectors that let you run ordinary phone wire between the different machines. Look for phonenet hardware at computer stores or mailorder catalogs.

Unfortunately, the serial ports in Apple's Super Serial Cards, //c and IIc+, and PC clones' serial ports are not capable of putting out Appletalk signals. From a PC, you'd probably have to find one of the rare (and therefore pricey) PC Appletalk boards that exist. As ethernet (and TCP/IP to a lesser degree) has taken over the Unix, PC and Mac networking setups, see the next section (7.4) below for some possible workarounds.

Is there any Ethernet capabilities for Apple IIs?

A: There is no publically available Ethernet setup for any Apple II model. There are also rumors of an independently designed Ethernet board, but it's not released.

There were several models of Appletalk <-> Ethernet gateways that can be used to connect up Apple IIs to Ethernet networks for use in a mixed network of Apple IIs, Macs, PCs and unix boxes. Shiva's FastPath 4 or 5 have been recommended as working well in this capacity.

(Apple designed and made an ethernet card to be released at about the same time as GS/OS 6.0.1, but canned the project when they decided to try and write off Apple IIs as a bad memory, and shoved the cards produced in a warehouse or worse. Fewer than five of these cards are known to be owned by people outside of Apple. That's very stupid, considering Apple could have made a nice profit on those things. Don't ask me where to get one of those; I don't know, and if I did, I'd get one for myself before telling any of you-- Nathan :) Tony Diaz has a web page up with more details on this card; check out http://www.apple2.org/AIIEthernet.html. [While this card had OS-level support (until they axed that code along with the card) for Ethertalk, since Ethertalk is merely Appletalk packets over Ethernet, this card is therefore an Ethernet card])

There are a number of SCSI - Ethernet transcievers available for Macs and the like, but they are EXTEMELY unlikely to work at all on the GS. Essentially, the RamFAST SCSI card does not support interrupts or devices feeding it data. In addition, all of these transcievers use proprietary (and info is not publically available) protocols.

What is 8 bit and 16 bit?

A: That indicates how big the chunks of data are that the CPU can manipulate at once. The Apple IIGS is a 16 bit machine and all other Apple ]['s are 8 bit machines. (It is possible to put a 65802 (extremely rare nowadays) as a replacement for a 6502 or 65C02, and get limited 16 bit functionality, but as the GS has a lot of extra chips to support what it does, you still would not be able to run 99.9% of GS software on such a machine)

How can I tell what version my computer is?

A: Look at the case of the computer to determine which Apple II you have, then in the section on Apple II model information (sections 2.x) for that model. The methods of determining the versions of each model are integrated into the other information for that model.

How much RAM is in my Apple II?

A:This is easiest to determine with an Apple IIGS. Go to the text control panel by pressing the control, open apple, and escape keys at once, then select the RAM Disk option under the Control Panel option. Note the 'Largest Selectable' entry, and add 256K to that-- that's how much RAM is available to GS programs. (The GS reserves a minumum of 256K for programs, though pretty much only older Apple II software will run in that space). Note that this does not count ram on cards in slots 1-7, though you're pretty much limited to only using RAM Disks or Appleworks addons in there.

With earlier models of the Apple II, this is a much more difficult problem, because any software that wants to take advantage of extra RAM has to be written to recognize any RAM past the first 64K of memory. [Applesoft BASIC, for example, only cares about the lower 48K of RAM unless you use addon packages.] As noted in the sections on Apple II models above, the system has a default of anywhere from 4K-128K built in. The extremely common 'Extended 80-column card' for the //e added 64K to the //e's default 64K.

Most Apple II RAM cards did come with a diagnostic disk and possibly patcher programs to allow them to determine how much RAM is in the system, as well as allowing programs like Appleworks access to the extra RAM. If you suspect you have more than the defaults, but can't be sure, asking on comp.sys.apple2 is probably the best bet.

Can I use High Density disks on my double density Apple II drives?

A: Only if you don't care about what's written to them. Basically, the magnetic properties of High Density disk media is different, and though you may be able to write to them and immediately read it back, after a few months, odds are pretty good that the disk is unreadable. In short, I strongly recommend not using anything other than Double Sided, Double Density (DSDD) disks in Apple II 140K 5.25" drives.

Some people report that they have successfully used HD 3.5" disks in their 800K drives without problems, while others have had some problems. Use them with some caution; as with everything else, making sure that there are adequate backups of all files you care about is a good insurance plan in case of any problems.

Of course, should you have a high density drive (1.2MB 5.25" or 1.44MB 3.5"), then use high density disks in it. Although the local computer store may not carry DSDD disks, many national mailorder places do carry them. Check them out.

Why do partitions have a maximum size of 32MB?

A: ProDOS, the usual choice for Apple II disks (Hard Drives, CD-ROMs, etc), is limited to 32MB per partition. It would require rewriting large chunks to get it to work with larger partitions. Just use the partitioning tools (included with the SCSI card or the like) to make several 32MB partitions.

If you have a GS with System 6.0, you can install the HFS FST (you must do a customized install, not the Easy Update), which lets you have partitions larger than 32MB. The System 6.0.1 HFS FST should have the patch applied to it before it is used with volumes larger than 64MB, but I (Nathan Mates) have had volumes corrupted and don't really trust the HFS FST. (See the System 6.0 Minifaq in this FAQ for details on where to download the patch.

HFS partitions: Requires GS/OS System 6.0 or higher, and therefore 1.5MB RAM. You can not boot a HFS disk on an Apple II. Maximum volume size is either 2 or 4 gigabytes (pretty darn big either way). System 6.0.1's default HFS FST has bugs that are know to corrupt disks >64MB; even with the Apple-approved patches it may not be stable. The only way to verify that a partition is uncorrupted is to take the HD to a Mac and run Apple's Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities on it-- no GS HFS disk verification programs exist.

Keeping good backups of your files is a real lifesaver when problems happen, no matter what filesystem they're saved to.

As a side note, DOS 3.3 volumes are limited to 400K each; my having multiple 400K volumes per disk (same theory as multiple 32MB partitions on a HD), patched DOS 3.3s can access up to approx 100MB (254 volumes * 400K each) at once. Such patches are not really available to the general public to my knowledge, however. There were a few DOS 3.3 patches that let them use 2 400K volumes on a 800K drive, though I've never used them.

How do I convert from an Appleworks file to a text file without formatting codes?

Appleworks lets you 'Print' to a file on disk-- hit Open-Apple-P, and select "A file on disk." That should do a reasonable job of translating the Appleworks file into text without formatting such as boldface and italic, but leaves in the centering.

Others have reported that setting up a special printer entry can yield slightly better results. (The exact procedure for that depends on the version (1-5) of Appleworks. Consult your manual for more information.) Make a new printer, which is identified as a 'Silentype' printer, but prints to disk. Make sure the printer interface code is empty.

What programming languages are available for the Apple ][?

Can I install DOS 3.3 stuff on my hard drive?

A: This mostly depends on what you're trying to do. As noted in the section on HD partitions above, DOS 3.3 volumes are limited to 400K each. Thus, they can be highly inconviencing trying to put those on a regular HD. (And no publically available software really exists to do that)

A far better solution is to use DOS 3.3 Launcher. It lets you copy unprotected DOS 3.3 140K disks to your hard drive, and run DOS 3.3 under ProDOS. Such functionality does have some requirements, though: programs must only use 48K of RAM (the upper 16K is reserved for ProDOS, which is running at the same time), not do any copy protection or disk hackery, and generally behave themselves. DOS 3.3 Launcher is available from the normal Apple II ftp sites: ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/utils/dos3.3.shk

Is there any form of Unix that I can use on my Apple II?

A: Yes, a pretty good commercial variant exists, but only for the GS: Procyon's GNO/ME. Since the GS (nor any other A2 model) doesn't have any form of memory protection or virtual memory, and the 65816 is limited to a maximum of 64K of stack space, programs that assume they can use whatever amounts of ram they want (gcc, X Windows, etc) can't be run at all.

GNO/ME runs on top of GS/OS, so you can multitask text-based programs with at most one GS desktop GUI program.

Can I generate Postscript from my Apple II?

A: The GS most certainly can with the right software; certain packages like Publish-It (at least versions 3 and 4; maybe also earlier versions as well) for the //e or //c also have such functionality. The GEOS family of programs for the Apple II can also generate postscript, but those programs are not available anymore to my knowledge [I believe that maybe the Springboard Publisher can do that also; more info would be appreciated]

To print to a postscript file on the GS with any program that follows the GS's methods for printing (Print Shop GS and pretty much all non-GS programs won't work), install the Laserwriter driver to System 6.0 or 6.0.1. You do not need to have a Laserwriter; just install the driver. [This will install Appletalk as well; to avoid the annoying message about Appletalk not being available at boot, disable the 'SCC.Manager' file in the drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk.]

Once this is done, select the Laserwriter as your printer driver. Select 'Print' from within a GS application, and at the standard dialog which appears, do not press return to print. Instead, hold down the Open Apple and 'f' keys while you click on the 'OK' button with the mouse. That will force a print to disk. The resulting postscript file is saved to the Drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk with the name 'Postscript.GSxx', with 'xx' being a 2-digit number that starts at 00. You can then take the postscript file to another system and view or print it.

The Laserwriter driver from System 6.0.1 may not be compatible with all Postscript printers (especially the non-Apple ones); if you're having problems, you may wish to try using the driver from System 6.0.

Note that the GS's Laserwriter driver does not properly handle Truetype fonts in documents (which requires 'Pointless' from Westcode Software), so you may want to use only the fonts your postscript printer knows. [Those lists vary; everything knows Times, Courier and a few more, but check your printer's manual for info on what it supports.]

How do you copy from a 5.25" disk to 3.5" disk?

A: ProDOS has no problems with this, as long as you copy by files. Note that ProDOS can only have 51 files in the main directory. If you try to exceed that, it will give you a cryptic 'Disk Full' error. If there really is space left on the disk, you can copy all the files into a subdirectory to get around the 51-file limit. Subdirectories can support more files in them than any ProDOS volume has to store them as different files, but in practice, you should limit them to a few hundred files per directory.

Copy protected 5.25" disks and DOS 3.3 programs tend not to want to copy to other disks. You may have to put up with them as is.

My Apple II is running too fast. How do I slow it down?

A: If you have a GS without an accelerator card, use the builtin control panel (accessible by hitting control-open apple-escape at once or holding down the 'option' key on poweron) to change the system system between 'Normal' (1Mhz, same as a stock ][, ][+, //e, or //c) and 'Fast' (2.5Mhz). With accelerators installed in the GS, the 'Normal' speed still means 1Mhz, but 'Fast' is whatever the card is set to run at. The Transwarp GS has in its ROM a CDA (accessible from the text control panel as above) for configuring the speed; the Zip GS has both official and 3rd party (better) utilities to configure its speed in 16 levels.

Pre-GS accelerators (AE Transwarp models, Zip Chip and Rocket Chip, among others) tended to be disableable if you held down the 'Esc' key when the system [re]booted. That would drop the system back to 1Mhz until the next [re]boot and/or poweron.

What are the problems with GSCII?

A: GSCII is a great program, but has two subtle problems: First, it won't work correctly if you extract to a HFS disk (so extract to a ProDOS disk). Also, it won't set the size correctly on S16 files. This should only be a problem when downloading Shrinkit GS. In that case, use BINSCII. The rest of the time you will be extracting .SHK files, which don't care about extra bytes at the end.

AppleWorks won't print to my printer. What gives?

A: AppleWorks will refuse to print to a slot that has a disk device. In the past, this worked well because if you try to print to a slot that has a disk controller in it, you will re-boot. But now, this can cause problems when a disk device is 'mapped' into your printer slot (due to a limitation in ProDOS, you can only have 2 drives per slot. Extra partitions on your hard drive will be re-mapped to other slots). If you have a RamFast, you can re-map the drives to different slots. Otherwise, (for AW 3.0) use this patch:

POKE 768,128: POKE 769,10
BSAVE APLWORKS.SYSTEM,TSYS,A$300,L2,B$AE3

If you didn't understand that, e-mail me, or look into John Link's SuperPatch program, which includes many more patches.

My GS control panel keeps resetting to the defaults and/or forgetting the date-- the battery is dead.

A: It's probably your battery. If you have a ROM 03 GS, can you just pop it out an get another. On the ROM 01, you will need a Slide-On Battery Replacement Kit from Night Owl Productions. See address in hardware & software vendors section (10.2).

I'm getting Error XXXX or YY. What's it mean?

A: Some common errors and their cause:

A larger list of all error messages, but not always the best description of the cause is at h**p://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/gserrors.html. WE NEED A COPY OF THIS

ProDOS Errors:

UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS - You can't boot a disk unless it has ProDOS and a something.SYSTEM file on it (Pre-1.9 ProDOS)

Error No.

Meaning

$27

I/O Error. Possibly a bad disk? Verify it with Prosel or Copy II Plus

$44

Path not found (You gave an invalid directory name)

$45

Volume not found (you didn't type in the right disk name)

$46

File not found (you didn't type a valid filename)

GS/OS errors:

Error No.

Meaning

0201

Out of memory

0911

Either your GS is overheating, or the ADB port is having problems

0301

Bad TransWarp

0308

(Also see 8021) Something has trashed critical parts of memory

11xx

GS/OS could not successfully load an application or program

8020

Either random TransWarp, or SCSI (try using different SCSI connector)

8021

If you get this at random times and you have a HS Apple SCSI, it's

probably a version conflict. Install the SCSI drivers from your GS/OS

disk, not your HS Apple SCSI disk.

Why does my Apple II lose characters when I'm using the modem?

A: Check the following: 1) Your software may need interrupts enabled. Examine DIP Switch 2-6 on your Super Serial Card. 2) If you have an unenhanced //e, you need to enhance your //e. 3) If you have a //c, it may be one of the ones that had a serial port problem. Talk to your dealer about upgrading it for 2400 baud support. Also, to use a modem faster than 9600 pretty much requires a 'Hardware Handshaking' cable, not a cheap one.

Where do I get support for AE boards now that they are closed?

A: Bruce BABB, ex-AE bench tech, is offering support out of his home for customer support of AE's boards. He also hints that another company is opening that will sell many of the Apple II products the AE made. You can reach Bruce via Email at 76004.1575@compuserve.com

Is there a QWK reader for the Apple //e?

A: Yes, it's called 2qwk!. To use 2qwk! you must patch ProDOS to allow filenames sent by MS-DOS machines. The Apple II version is now available via ftp from ground and caltech.

I've got a problem. How do I troubleshoot it?

Asking others for help is fine, but if you do, please provide the following information. (And the act of finding out this information may help you find the cause on your own)

1. Is it reproducible? One system crash that happened out of the blue and never reoccurred is almost impossible to track down and fix.

2. When did the fault appear? During boot? After a fixed amount of time? Whenever you do X in program Y?

3. Any and ALL error messages reported by the system. Copy them down and repeat them exactly; saying "it gave an error" is not useful.

4. How dead the system is. Does the mouse still work, but clicks do nothing? Does it do anything at all?

5. System configuration. What cards in what slots, how much RAM, which SCSI controller and rom version (if applicable), what size HD, etc.

If you have just purchased a bunch of new hardware and/or software, resist the temptation to install all your new toys at once. Take it one step at a time and test everything after adding each item. (i.e. Run the diagnostics and try your old programs.)

If you have an enhanced //e, //c, IIc+, or GS, try the system self-test: hold down the Control key, the Open Apple key, and the Option (or Solid Apple) key. Then press and release Reset. Lastly, let up on the other keys. Sit back and 'Watchen Der Blinken Lighten.' If you run into a problem, please see the next section on self test errors and what they mean.

Leave the computer plugged in, but turned off when installing cards. Touch the top of power supply before and often during your work. Better yet, use a wrist strap tied to ground through a 1 Megaohm resistor.

Make sure you have the required components for the program. Does it require an Enhanced //e? More RAM? A separate boot disk?

Never use your original disks. Make a backup and store the write-protected original in a safe place.

Be sure to keep your disks away from stray magnetic fields, such as those emanating from phones, monitors and speakers.

If you have an accelerator, try to disable it or take it out entirely. It may not be compatible with the new item. (This is actually rare; the one consistent thing accelerators have problems is the GS's self test)

Check all your cable connections. Do not disconnect or connect any cables with the computer on-- this includes disk/hard drives, keyboards, mice, etc.

Try pulling out other cards and disconnect your joystick. If you have a lot of cards, you might consider a Heavy-Duty Power Supply from A.E. It supplies 6 Amps instead of a measly 2.5 Amps. Test the power supply with a voltmeter while the computer is on.

Call the manufacturer to see if there is an upgrade or a fix with the program.

Most RAM cards come with a memory tester. Try running it in continuous mode for several hours, even if your RAM seems to be working.

Verify your disk(s) with Copy ][+ or the Finder to see if you have any bad blocks. A better choice is ProSEL, which provides a comprensive set of disk verification and fixing errors.

On a GS, check your control panel (control-open-apple-escape) settings: What is the startup slot set to? Is the slot set to "Your Card"? Check your RAM disk setting. Is it taking up all your memory? Try setting the speed to normal if it's a non-GS program.

On a GS, try take out or disable your INITS, CDAs, NDAs, and CDEVS. (With System 6, just hold down the shift key while booting). If the system is fine when shiftbooted, then there is probably a conflict between some of them. Try manually disabling a few at a time, and seeing if the problem disappears. You can narrow down a problem to an init or few that way.

If you have a hard disk, try booting from a System Disk and/or reinstalling the latest system software. Using the installer that came with the system software the the best and safest way to install system software; hand installing parts can cause problems.

AppleWorks GS 1.1 comes with a memory tester (try it).

The TransWarp GS has a continuous test on the CDA (try it too).

My GS reported a problem with the Self Test. What do the numbers mean?

Please note that with a Zip GS in the system, the system will always report an error, even if none exists. You will get an 05xxxxxx if DIP switch 1-4 is ON, but if that's off, you're likely to get 0Bxxxxxx (not on all Zips) or 0Cxxxxxx errors. If you suspect a real problem, then you can either switch off the Zip (1-6 off), or remove the Zip from the system and try with the normal processor. Do all modifications to DIP switches or cards in general with the computer off, as usual.

My Apple II goes into a self test or reboots when I turn it on.

Try unplugging any joysticks, paddles, or anything else plugged into the back joystick port or the internal game port. Since the primary and secondary joystick buttons appear the same to the system as the open and closed (option on the GS) apple buttons, if your joystick's buttons are misreported as down, the system can assume you're trying to continually do a self test. If your system works without the joystick plugged in, your joystick is defective.

This is a general rule of thumb for troubleshooting, as noted above. Pull out EVERYTHING not needed for the problem (go down to computer, monitor, and optionally the keyboard for the base problems), and slowly add components until the problem reappears. When it does, you've isolated the problem. [As usual, only plug or unplug devices with the power off.]

My Hard Drive (or other disk) crashed! What do I do?

If you have adequate backups, reformat it, and copy the data back. If you don't have backups, this would be a good time to start praying. Dead disk recovery is a delicate art at best; be forewarned that there is a good chance that some to all data will be lost.

Reminder: Keep good backups of any files you care about!

There are two commercial programs that can do a decent job at recovering as much as possible from a ProDOS disk: ProSEL (8 and 16 bit versions published by Charlie's Appleseeds) and Salvation: Deliverance (published by Vitesse). ProSEL-8 is the only package that runs on non-GS Apple IIs, so it may be your only choice. ProSEL-16 and Salvation both require GSs.

Refer to their manuals for the specifics on how to attempt volume restoration with them, though from what I've heard, they have a much better chance of restoring files in subdirectories, not the top-level directory. Thus, it may be prudent to store important files in subdirectories so that they can restored later. [With a limit of 51 files in the top directory, you'll be forced into using subdirectories sooner or later on hard drives.]

If you managed to repartition or erase your drive, at least with ProSEL (and possibly also Salvation, though I have not used that or heard from any owners), you have a decent chance of restoring most files if you repartitioned it EXACTLY as it used to be partitioned: same partition sizes in the same order. Do NOT reformat the drive or partitions-- that'll write to all disk blocks, which will make recovery essentially impossible. Then, run ProSEL on it and tell it not to assume a valid volume bitmap for each partition. You'll probably lose files in the root directory, but it's a better than nothing.

My Apple II is reporting the wrong year. How do I fix that?

First, if you have a GS, and the internal clock is reporting the wrong year each time you boot up, you probably have a dead battery. See section 8.4 for where to get a replacement.

ProDOS 8 does have a problem in its year calculating code-- the designers assumed that a table holding only 6 years would be sufficient. They were wrong. You'll have to patch ProDOS every few years to keep it up to date; a text file including a Basic program is on Apple's FTP site: ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/slotclock-patch.txt

What does "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS" mean when I boot a disk?

ProDOS is not automatically installed on every disk formatted under ProDOS. All that is writted to disk is a very short boot stub that looks for a system (type 'SYS') file in the root directory called 'PRODOS'. If that file is present, it is loaded, and ProDOS installs itself. If there is no PRODOS file found, the error message of "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS" is displayed on the screen.

To make such a disk bootable, all you need to do is copy the file 'PRODOS' from a working ProDOS boot disk to the root directory of the disk you want to be able to boot from, assuming there is enough free space to copy that file.

You will also want to copy at least one other system (type='SYS') to the root directory of any disk you want to boot, as ProDOS scans the root directory for the first SYS file with name ending in ".SYSTEM" to execute, or it'll be unhappy. A good candidate for such a file is Apple's "BASIC.SYSTEM", providing the Basic interpreter and command line interface to ProDOS.

If you choose to use Macs and Disk Copy to download System 6.x, make sure to use Double Sided/Double Density (DSDD - 720K or 800K) disks-- 1.44MB (HD) disks will be written to as 1.44MB disks, which most GS drives cannot deal with. Also, if your GS is refusing to boot off the install disk (with an 'UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS' message), and you have a Quadra or Powermac, you may be a victim of Apple's costcutting in 3.5" drives-- those drives may report disks as successfully written, but GSs will be unable to read them. Switch to an older Mac with a usable drive, or use a null modem program to transfer the files.

Section 9: GS System 6.0 mini-FAQ

Where can I get System 6, and what fixes are there for the known bugs in it?

First off, if you don't have it on your GS, you may want to consider upgrading to System 6.0.1. Like all GS/OS releases, you will need to make sure you've got a ROM 01 or ROM 3 before you even think about running it. Although you may be able to get it to boot in less RAM, 1.25MB of RAM is pretty much a minimum; 1.5-2MB RAM is recommended if you want to run a lot of the fun addons. Secondly, an 800K floppy is rather cramped for space as a boot disk; a Hard Drive helps immensely. (If you're looking to strip a boot disk down to get as much space as possible, please see my reference of files in the GS/OS installation at http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=IIgs_6.0.1.html.)

System 6.0.1 has a number of bugfixes and small addons from System 6.0; they both have similar RAM requirements, so you should consider moving to System 6.0.1 if at all possible. Also, many problems that existed in System 6.0 and 6.0.1 have only been fixed in patches to System 6.0.1, such as the HFS FST and programs that GUPP fixes. (See below)

Next, you'll want to download them. On the internet, they're available in Apple II (.BSQ) form from Apple's FTP site at ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/gs.system.6.0.1/. There are 6 disks to either System 6.0 or System 6.0.1; you should download and unpack them (with Binscii and Shrinkit. Then, boot the Install disk.

When unpacking the .BSQ files from Apple's FTP site without a hard drive, you'll notice that some of the disks can be larger than 800K, even when partially unpacked. Creating a Ramdisk from the control panel greater than 800K will let you unpack these big disks without any problems. (Remember to kill off that ramdisk before trying to run GS/OS if you have less than 1.5MB of RAM)

If you choose to use Macs and Disk Copy to download System 6.x, make sure to use Double Sided/Double Density (DSDD - 720K or 800K) disks-- 1.44MB (HD) disks will be written to as 1.44MB disks, which most GS drives cannot deal with. Also, if your GS is refusing to boot off the install disk (with an 'UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS' message), and you have a Quadra or Powermac, you may be a victim of Apple's costcutting in 3.5" drives-- those drives may report disks as successfully written, but GSs will be unable to read them. Switch to an older Mac with a usable drive, or use a null modem program to transfer the files.

Common Problems

If you are still using System 6.0, it is recommended that you upgrade to the latest and greatest version, 6.0.1. It is available at Apple's FTP site (see section for the address).

The HFS (Macintosh) FST (File system translator) included with System 6.0.1 does contain at least one bug, which can corrupt a HFS volume of 64MB or larger. It is strongly encouraged that you download and install the patch. (You'll need to copy all the files off to non-HFS volumes, install, and copy back for safety). The patch is available from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/addons/patches/patchhfs.shk

I (Nathan Mates) have had HFS volumes corrupted, so I'm pretty confident that there are more bugs in the FST. There are no native GS HFS volume checkers; you'll have to take the drive to a Mac anytime you need to run a checker such as Apple's Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities. (Also, Macs want a special driver, which may require you to [re]format the drive on a mac, or use a special program to insert it. This boils down to the general computer rule of thumb: If you care about your files, make sure you have backups!

Despite the hard work of the Apple Computer programmers, some bugs slipped through in System 6.0.1. Both as a recommendation for system stability, and as a plug for a program of his, Nathan Mates has found and fixed a number of them. These include memory trashing bugs in the 6.0.1 Finder, the Pascal FST not recognizing legal punctuation in disk names, and many more. Get the free program 'GUPP' (Grand Unified Patch Program) from a major Apple II FTP site

Copy ][+ may be a great program for making the one personal backup copy of a piece of software that you are legally entitled to, but its file copy, delete, and directory sorting functions will corrupt a disk when used on a directory with GS/OS 'forked' files. (Pretty much all of the system software is forked, as are most GS applications). Do NOT use it on disks or HD partitions with such files. ProSEL 8 or 16 can repair some of the damage done, and provide safe disk and file utilities.

If the mouse cursor wipes out everything it moves over, you may have a software conflict with Closeview. To deactivate it, from within the Finder, open the 'System' folder on your boot disk, then the 'System.Setup' folder. Find the icon named 'Closeview', and click once on it. Then, from the 'Special' menu, choose 'Icon Info...'. A window will open up, with a check box for 'Inactive' in the top right. After setting it to inactive, reboot. You can do the same thing for any other Desk Accessory, Control Panel (CDev), or Init (in the System.Setup folder, should you decide not to want to run it.

Easy Access also can and does cause lockups with programs, especially on the ROM 01. Deactivate it just like you did with the Closeview program-- it's in the same folder.

If you are getting an annoying message about Appletalk not being available at boot, but you're not using Appletalk in general, disable the 'SCC.Manager' file in the drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk.

Missing features of system 6? Perhaps you just used easy install, which doesn't install all the bells and whistles. Try clicking on the 'Custom' install (versus the easy install) in the Sys 6.0 installer and add the nifty things like Calculator, Find File, HFS FST, etc. You can also read the Shortcuts file on the 'SystemTools2' disk for some great keyboard shortcuts.

Finder 6.0 icons that match by name and have a leading wildcard require uppercase letters. For example, a name like "*.txt" never matches, but "*.TXT" works fine (it matches regardless of a file's actual capitalization). (This was accidental; the 5.0.4 Finder did not care about capitalization in icon files.)

Two misconceptions about System 6: The A2.RAMCARD is not for the GS's /RAM5. It only works with "slinky" (i.e. standard slot) cards. Also, the DOS 3.3 FST has nothing to do with MS-DOS.

Tips & Hints

The AppleShare logon programs have always looked for a folder named "Mail" inside your user folder whenever you log onto a user volume. If there's any items in there, they present a dialog that says "You have mail." With the Sounds control panel, you can make it play a sound of your choice then.

If you don't want to see your icons on boot, set bit 1 (i.e. the 2nd LSB) of BRAM Location $5F. Be sure not to mess with the other bits. Use the toolbox calls!

The FinderExtras folder goes in the same folder as the Finder (generally the System folder).

If you don't like yellow folders in the Finder you can change the byte at offset +65 in the Finder resource with type $C001 and ID 1. Change the $E0 to whatever you want (the first digit is the default folder foreground color, and the low nibble is for the outline color). Only folders that do not already have a color recorded in a Finder.Data file get the default color.

If you have a RamFAST

The RamFast and ProDOS 2.0.1 both try to do re-mapping of drives to unused slots. This can cause problems, mostly when launching and returning from ProDOS 8 applications (crashes or wants you to insert disk). Solution: Configure the RamFast not to re-map. If you have a RamFAST with a ROM revision less than 2.01a, you need to get a newer ROM from Sequential Systems. Otherwise, V2.01c allows setting Slot Priority Allocations to 0 which will let ProDOS deal with them. V3.0 allows you to choose between RamFast mapping (works now) and ProDOS 8 mapping. If you can't wait, you can Patch ProDOS 2.0 not to re-map slots. Look for "10 BF C9 A5 D0 07" and change the $A5 to $00 (should be byte $1A3 in the 5th block of the file). Hack at your own risk.

If you have a Vulcan or AE High Density disk

Due to problems with the Vulcan, when booting, it asks for your System Disk. Just put the Vulcan driver on your boot disk, boot it, and then launch the installer. Alternately, put the driver on the installer disk and boot it. (but you have to delete some of the installer scripts first) For the AE High Density Drive, be sure to remove Apple's 3.5" driver when putting on AE's.

If you have ProSel as your program launcher

Rename start to something else before running the installer, or else the Finder won't be installed. Also, ProSEL as a launcher will cause a bogus $0040 error on some programs such as the first DOTW release.

If you have an AMR 3.5" drive

If the computer hangs (mostly at the Standard File Save/Open dialog box) with no disk in the drive, try putting one in. What's happening is that GS is reading the status from the drive, and the drive won't return anything unless there is a disk in the drive. Just stick a disk in and all will be fine. If it really annoys you, either deactivate the 3.5" driver (get IR so you can double-click to re-activate it) or simply keep a disk in the drive at all times. This is not a problem under ProDOS 8.

GSCII+ & HFS Note

There is a problem with the HFS FST, but only GSCII seems to be affected. When de-binscii-ing files, put the output onto a ProDOS volume, not an HFS one.

[ Mega-thanks to Dave Lyons & friends for these. ]

Finder 6.0.1 is displaying garbage in the windows!

System 6.0.1's Finder occasionally gets some of its files corrupted, and then fills a window (or the screen) with multicolor garbage when a window is opened. This is extremely annoying, but there are ways to fix it. First, try installing Grand Unified Patcher Program (see the section above (9.1) on system 6.x patches).

If that doesn't work, go to the 'Preferences...' menu item under the Finder's 'Special' menu, and turn off the hiding of invisible files. Inside the 'Icons' folder on each disk/partition, there's a file called 'Desktop'. Trash it, and reboot. [This file contains window sizes and custom icon placements, as well as duplicate copies of icons from System 6-savvy applications with 'rBundles' attached. No real harm other than losing the window placements is done by trashing it.]

Lastly, you can look for bad icon files-- make a new folder (such as 'Icons2') on each hard drive, and move all files except 'Ftype.Apple' out of the Icons folder on each disk/partition to the new folder. Reboot and see if the problem still occurs. If not, move a few files back at a time, reboot, and see if you have the problem. When you've isolated the problem file, don't use it anymore.

Icons no longer point to apps. How do I rebuild the desktop database?

Easiest way: from Finder, go to prefs, turn off hide invisible files. In each disk partition's 'Icons' folder, there should be a file named 'desktop'. Delete it. That'll just force a new desktop database file to be created next time you start the Finder; you'll still have to click on each file that put its rBundles into there to rebuild it.

Better way: Softdisk G-S #47 or 48, A program Nathan Mates wrote called 'Rebuilder'. Deletes the desktop file, then scans the drive for all rBundles and adds them.

How do I make a 3.5" disk that boots and runs an Application?

Assuming that this (or any other program) is a ProDOS 16 or GS/OS app, the way to put it on a self-booting disk is:

1) Format disk, install GS/OS on it, with any desired extensions, etc

2a) Copy the app you want to run to the system folder of that disk, and rename it 'Start'

-OR-

2b) Copy the app you want to run to the root directory (lowest level) of the disk, and make sure its filename ends in ".SYS16", renaming it if necessary. If you do this, delete any 'Start' program in the system folder.

What's the difference between 2:1 and 4:1 3.5" formatting?

These two ratios are possible interleave factors for 3.5" disks. Unidisks 3.5"s maximum speed is at the 4:1 interleave factor; if 2:1 disks are inserted in them, a lot of time will be wasted while the disk blows revolutions reading sequential sectors. Apple 3.5" drives best speed is at 2:1; 4:1 disks in them can be accessed slightly slower than 2:1, but not anywhere near as bad as 2:1 disks in Unidisk drives. Thus, if you don't have Unidisk drives, 2:1 should be selected, but if you're using a mix of drives or Unidisks, 4:1 is the optimal speed.

What do I do with icon files for the Finder, and how can I customize how they appear?

Under System 6.0, each volume you have online can (and the Finder will occasionally auto-add this) have a folder named 'Icons' in the root directory. Applications with separate icons files (as identified by a Finder 'Get Info') can have that icons file copied to the Icons folder of that partition. For example, the application /Games1/OneArmBattle/OneArmBattle should have its icon file copied to /Games1/Icons/ . Most icons files are simply cute fluff, and are not needed to run things correctly. A lot of files may also slow down loading of the Finder, as it must reload all icons files each time.

The 'FType.Apple' file installed to the Icons folder of the boot disk along with the rest of the System Software is a required file for the Finder, GS Shrinkit, and possibly other applications. Do not mess with it; it does not contain any icons, but the text descriptions of file types you can see from the Finder.

If you want to make your own icons, or point them at various applications, the best way to do this is to make up a custom icon for the filetype, and set the icon application path to the application you want to run. IconED 2.0 is a good icon editor, and is available from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/utils/. Once your icon file is created, it should be saved in an Icons folder on one of your disks, preferably the boot volume. As the first match of an icon is used, you may want to do a directory sort to move your custom file to the top of the Icons folder or elsewhere if things are matching oddly.

Hardware and Software Vendors

The Byte Works products are available at http://www.syndicomm.com. Apple IIGS assemblers, compilers, and utility programs such as a spreadsheet and a morphing program. They are also one of the few sources for Apple II books full of technical and programming information.

The next section is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) posting of the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tony Diaz (email: tdiaz-at-apple2-dot-org), all rights reserved. This document can be freely copied so long as 1) it is not sold, 2) any sections reposted elsewhere from it are credited back to this FAQ with the FAQ's copyright info and official WWW location (http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=CSA2_FAQ) left in place.

This FAQ may not be sold, bundled on disks or CD-ROMs, reprinted in magazines, books, periodicals, or the like without prior consent from the maintainer, Tony Diaz. Exceptions are explicitly granted for Juiced.GS and _The_Lamp. Email me for permission otherwise.

Big thanks to Nathan Mates, the previous maintainer of this comp.sys.apple2 FAQ, for allowing it to live on after his departure and anyone who took up that mantle before him.

--- Begin part 4 of 4

Section 7: Some Common Questions

Can my Apple II connect to the Internet?

A: Short answer: yes, any 80 (maybe even 40) column Apple II with a serial card (and almost always a modem) can connect to an Internet Service Provider that provides a shell account. (Please note that "connect to the internet" is the better term for it; avoid the media's popularizing of metaphors related to driving or surfing.)

Longer answer: As of 3/8/97, the only available method is to have a serial (modem or null modem) connection to another computer which can translate and run stuff on it. Most of the time, this means that you will need to find an Internet Service Provider (ISP) which supports a plain "shell" connection. (Telling them you have an Apple II will likely confuse them; just tell them that a VT-100 shell is what you want). For a list of ISPs, try checking local newspaper advertisements, or drop by http://www.thelist.com.

This will give you a straight text connection to the internet; no fancy graphics. Yes, it's a lot less eye candy, but the advantage is that files transfer faster. You can still download files, pictures, and the like, and deal with them later. Once you are signed up for a shell account, you will need to connect up, usually via modem and terminal program. 99% of shell accounts are in unix systems; you should talk to the tech support desk of wherever you get your connection from for information on how to do items such as email, usenet, and the like.

If you have a GS have Seven Hills Software's Spectrum (modem communication program), they have just announced a set of addons that allow WWW browsing from an Apple II. According to their WWW press releases at http://www.sevenhills.com/applesoftware/iigs/sis/, you will need a GS with 4MB RAM (HD and accelerator recommended), Spectrum 2.1, a modem, and a GEnie or dialup Unix shell account. It does not appear to support any form of TCP/IP connection such as SLIP or PPP.

If you do not have a GS capable of running Spectrum's browser, the program 'lynx' runs on unix/vms/etc machines and lets people access the World Wide Web and display it on VT-100 terminals. It's not on every system by default; if not, ask your sysadmins to install it. The default ProTerm setup for VT100 is not too friendly to Lynx-- you will need to turn off inverse text for 'bold' and 'underlined' text if on. (Consult your manual for information on how to do so). Alternatively, when starting Lynx, you may want to start it with the "-show_cursor" option. As noted above; you can download graphics to your Apple II and view a number of formats-- see the section on dealing with graphics for more information.

As of 28 Aug 1997, Richard Bennett's freeware implementation of a TCP/IP stack for the GS is in BETA initial release, and available from its home page at http://www.zip.com.au/~kashum/marinetti/. It appears to support SLIP (PPP promised for availability shortly) right now, and is not guaranteed to be fully functional or stable.

One package is in a state of perpetual near completion: GS/TCP for the GNO/ME unix-like environment for the IIGS. As of January 13th 1998, it is NOT released yet. GNO/ME requires 1.5-2MB of RAM and a HD on your GS to use, so you may not be able to run it with your current setup. For more information from the author, Derek Taubert, see http://www.geeks.org/~taubert/gstcp/index.html. Documentation on GNO/ME in general can be found at http://www.gno.org/gno/ .

I don't have an OS/Boot disk for my Apple II or want an update. Where do I get it from?

First, consult the following chart to help determine what you should be looking to run on your Apple II-- there's a lot of possible OSs. Downloads usually require you to have comm programs up and running on your Apple II and/or Mac with a 3.5" disk that fully supports 800K disks (a lot of Powermacs are flakey in that area). Without such an ability, see below for places to purchase/copy it from. See FAQ Section 2.* on the Apple II models or FAQ section 7.7 on determing RAM to determine what your Apple II has if the limitations in the following are confusing.

Any Apple II, 5.25" drive, 32K or more RAM: DOS 3.3. This is not legally available online to the best of my knowledge, as Apple still holds the copyright and distribution restrictions on it. However, Diversi-DOS, a Shareware enhanced version (may require 48K or 64K RAM) of it with many speedups is available online: ftp://ground.isca.uiowa.edu/apple2/apple8/OS/divdos41c.bxy

All of the above were always distributed as full versions of the system software; there is no need to 'upgrade' thru system 4 or 5 to get to 6. Consequently, don't look for any patches to save download time; those never existed.

[Note: there are some other versions of the System Disks not listed above; the ones listed are the latest versions, which you should be running to get as many features and as few bugs as possible. Most of the older (and especially the very buggy) versions are not available online for that reason.]

Without an operating system, you can't run a comm program to download the operating system, so you're in a bit of a quandry. One method is to call 1-800-SOS-APPL and try and find an Apple II user group in your area. They should be able copy things for you.

If you are unable to find a local user group, one of the next best options is to contact Steve Cavanaugh (section 10.2), who is licensed to copy ProDOS 8 [runs on pretty much all Apple IIs with at least 64K of RAM], along with a 5.25" disk full of comm programs, etc. The comm program disk costs only $3, which is a great deal. Ask him for more details if interested.

Alltech Electronics (see FAQ section 10.2) is licensed to sell many of the above, such as GS System Software 5.0.4 and 6.0.1, Apple // System Disk 4.02, and ProDOS 1.1.1. Contact them for details on pricing, etc.

How I connect my Apple II to an Appletalk (and/or Ethertalk) network?

A: Appletalk support is pretty much available for the //e and GS only; the functionality never made it into the ][, ][+, //c or IIc+ models.

Appletalk software on the Apple II will allow you to connect to 'Appleshared' volumes on server machines (Macs, WinNT4.x, and many unix platforms), and also certain printers shared on the network; there is no current way for Apple IIs to share their local drives to any other Appletalked boxen. Also, note that you'll need some sort of Appletalk to Ethernet gateway if you want to use Appletalk with any non-Apple hardware; see next section below on Ethernet.

Filesharing over Appletalk is possible if the non-Apple II machines share their drives. Macs can do that with System 7.x and 8.x's personal filesharing; see the documentation and online help, as this is outside the scope of this FAQ. Windows NT 4.0 is reported to support Appleshare also (see its docs and help again); Unix machines can use the 'Columbia Appletalk Protocol or for for Linux, see http://thehamptons.com/anders/netatalk/. [Netatalk supports sharing volumes and printers]. To access shared volumes, turn the sharing on the host machine, and from the GS, use the 'Appleshare' graphical control panel to connect up.

Booting an Apple II over Appletalk is not a trivial task, even though the System 6.0/6.0.1 include "disks" to support it. To boot an Apple II over Appletalk, you must also own Apple's Appleshare 2.x or 3.x software for Macs; 1.x or 4.x (and anything newer than that) won't work. This software reportedly cost near $1,000 new; while you may be able to find it for less nowadays, the cost and slowness of Appletalk may not make this worth it. You may either want to boot the GS off a 3.5" and run applications from an Appleshared volume, or invest in a HD for the Apple II (Alltech Electronics has 20MB HDs for $59 as of 8/19/97, which will prove far faster and overall more useful).

Some printers can be connected to an Appletalk network; Imagewriter IIs with an addon board (either Apple's board or Sequential System's 'MegaBUFF'/'Q:Talk lto' boards) can be networked, as can all Apple Laser printers supporting PostScript and the Appletalk serial port. Although several inkjet printers support Appletalk (various Stylewriters and HP Deskwriters), there is no GS support for them over a network, even if they'll work when directly connected.

To get Appletalk running on a //e, you will need a //e Workstation card, which provides an Appletalk port, and the associated software, which is bundled with it. That way, you can connect to an Appletalk network and use shared drives and/or printers. Once that is ready, install the Appletalk software.

From a GS, Appletalk is slightly more complex in terms of deciding which slots you want to dedicate to it. In a ROM 01, Appletalk requires turning slot 7 to 'Appletalk' (use the control panel, accessible by pressing Control-Open Apple-Escape), and either one of slots 1 or 2 set to 'Your Card'. If you have something in slot 7 that you care about (usually a hard drive controller), what you can do is move that card to slot 1 or 2, and set the boot slot to 1 or 2. A ROM 3 is simpler-- set one of slots 1 or 2 to Appletalk. The Appletalk cable plugs into the back of your GS in the printer port (ROM 1 if slot 1 is 'Your Card', ROM 3 if slot 1 is Appletalk) or the modem port (slot 2 is Your card/Appletalk). Once the GS is set up, from the System 6.0 or 6.0.1 (recommended) installer, select "Custom Install" and then select the Appletalk, Appleshare, Appletalk'd Imagewriter and/or Laserwriter packages to install.

Once you have Appletalk set up on the various machines, you'll need to decide how to connect them. If there are only 2 machines and both are connecting via the serial port, a printer (i.e. null modem) cable between the two will suffice. If you want to connect more than two devices, you can use either Apple's Localtalk wiring scheme (expensive and pretty much phased out) or the 'Phonenet' style connectors that let you run ordinary phone wire between the different machines. Look for phonenet hardware at computer stores or mailorder catalogs.

Unfortunately, the serial ports in Apple's Super Serial Cards, //c and IIc+, and PC clones' serial ports are not capable of putting out Appletalk signals. From a PC, you'd probably have to find one of the rare (and therefore pricey) PC Appletalk boards that exist. As ethernet (and TCP/IP to a lesser degree) has taken over the Unix, PC and Mac networking setups, see the next section (7.4) below for some possible workarounds.

Is there any Ethernet capabilities for Apple IIs?

A: There is no publically available Ethernet setup for any Apple II model. There are also rumors of an independently designed Ethernet board, but it's not released.

There were several models of Appletalk <-> Ethernet gateways that can be used to connect up Apple IIs to Ethernet networks for use in a mixed network of Apple IIs, Macs, PCs and unix boxes. Shiva's FastPath 4 or 5 have been recommended as working well in this capacity.

(Apple designed and made an ethernet card to be released at about the same time as GS/OS 6.0.1, but canned the project when they decided to try and write off Apple IIs as a bad memory, and shoved the cards produced in a warehouse or worse. Fewer than five of these cards are known to be owned by people outside of Apple. That's very stupid, considering Apple could have made a nice profit on those things. Don't ask me where to get one of those; I don't know, and if I did, I'd get one for myself before telling any of you-- Nathan :) Tony Diaz has a web page up with more details on this card; check out http://www.hypermall.com/~tdiaz/AIIEthernet.html. [While this card had OS-level support (until they axed that code along with the card) for Ethertalk, since Ethertalk is merely Appletalk packets over Ethernet, this card is therefore an Ethernet card])

There are a number of SCSI - Ethernet transcievers available for Macs and the like, but they are EXTEMELY unlikely to work at all on the GS. Essentially, the RamFAST SCSI card does not support interrupts or devices feeding it data. In addition, all of these transcievers use proprietary (and info is not publically available) protocols.

What is 8 bit and 16 bit?

A: That indicates how big the chunks of data are that the CPU can manipulate at once. The Apple IIGS is a 16 bit machine and all other Apple ]['s are 8 bit machines. (It is possible to put a 65802 (extremely rare nowadays) as a replacement for a 6502 or 65C02, and get limited 16 bit functionality, but as the GS has a lot of extra chips to support what it does, you still would not be able to run 99.9% of GS software on such a machine)

How can I tell what version my computer is?

A: Look at the case of the computer to determine which Apple II you have, then in the section on Apple II model information (sections 2.x) for that model. The methods of determining the versions of each model are integrated into the other information for that model.

How much RAM is in my Apple II?

A:This is easiest to determine with an Apple IIGS. Go to the text control panel by pressing the control, open apple, and escape keys at once, then select the RAM Disk option under the Control Panel option. Note the 'Largest Selectable' entry, and add 256K to that-- that's how much RAM is available to GS programs. (The GS reserves a minumum of 256K for programs, though pretty much only older Apple II software will run in that space). Note that this does not count ram on cards in slots 1-7, though you're pretty much limited to only using RAM Disks or Appleworks addons in there.

With earlier models of the Apple II, this is a much more difficult problem, because any software that wants to take advantage of extra RAM has to be written to recognize any RAM past the first 64K of memory. [Applesoft BASIC, for example, only cares about the lower 48K of RAM unless you use addon packages.] As noted in the sections on Apple II models above, the system has a default of anywhere from 4K-128K built in. The extremely common 'Extended 80-column card' for the //e added 64K to the //e's default 64K.

Most Apple II RAM cards did come with a diagnostic disk and possibly patcher programs to allow them to determine how much RAM is in the system, as well as allowing programs like Appleworks access to the extra RAM. If you suspect you have more than the defaults, but can't be sure, asking on comp.sys.apple2 is probably the best bet.

Can I use High Density disks on my double density Apple II drives?

A: Only if you don't care about what's written to them. Basically, the magnetic properties of High Density disk media is different, and though you may be able to write to them and immediately read it back, after a few months, odds are pretty good that the disk is unreadable. In short, I strongly recommend not using anything other than Double Sided, Double Density (DSDD) disks in Apple II 140K 5.25" drives.

Some people report that they have successfully used HD 3.5" disks in their 800K drives without problems, while others have had some problems. Use them with some caution; as with everything else, making sure that there are adequate backups of all files you care about is a good insurance plan in case of any problems.

Of course, should you have a high density drive (1.2MB 5.25" or 1.44MB 3.5"), then use high density disks in it. Although the local computer store may not carry DSDD disks, many national mailorder places do carry them. Check them out.

Why do partitions have a maximum size of 32MB?

A: ProDOS, the usual choice for Apple II disks (Hard Drives, CD-ROMs, etc), is limited to 32MB per partition. It would require rewriting large chunks to get it to work with larger partitions. Just use the partitioning tools (included with the SCSI card or the like) to make several 32MB partitions.

If you have a GS with System 6.0, you can install the HFS FST (you must do a customized install, not the Easy Update), which lets you have partitions larger than 32MB. The System 6.0.1 HFS FST should have the patch applied to it before it is used with volumes larger than 64MB, but I (Nathan Mates) have had volumes corrupted and don't really trust the HFS FST. (See the System 6.0 Minifaq in this FAQ for details on where to download the patch.

HFS partitions: Requires GS/OS System 6.0 or higher, and therefore 1.5MB RAM. You can not boot a HFS disk on an Apple II. Maximum volume size is either 2 or 4 gigabytes (pretty darn big either way). System 6.0.1's default HFS FST has bugs that are know to corrupt disks >64MB; even with the Apple-approved patches it may not be stable. The only way to verify that a partition is uncorrupted is to take the HD to a Mac and run Apple's Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities on it-- no GS HFS disk verification programs exist.

Keeping good backups of your files is a real lifesaver when problems happen, no matter what filesystem they're saved to.

As a side note, DOS 3.3 volumes are limited to 400K each; my having multiple 400K volumes per disk (same theory as multiple 32MB partitions on a HD), patched DOS 3.3s can access up to approx 100MB (254 volumes * 400K each) at once. Such patches are not really available to the general public to my knowledge, however. There were a few DOS 3.3 patches that let them use 2 400K volumes on a 800K drive, though I've never used them.

How do I convert from an Appleworks file to a text file without formatting codes?

Appleworks lets you 'Print' to a file on disk-- hit Open-Apple-P, and select "A file on disk." That should do a reasonable job of translating the Appleworks file into text without formatting such as boldface and italic, but leaves in the centering.

Others have reported that setting up a special printer entry can yield slightly better results. (The exact procedure for that depends on the version (1-5) of Appleworks. Consult your manual for more information.) Make a new printer, which is identified as a 'Silentype' printer, but prints to disk. Make sure the printer interface code is empty.

What programming languages are available for the Apple ][?

Can I install DOS 3.3 stuff on my hard drive?

A: This mostly depends on what you're trying to do. As noted in the section on HD partitions above, DOS 3.3 volumes are limited to 400K each. Thus, they can be highly inconviencing trying to put those on a regular HD. (And no publically available software really exists to do that)

A far better solution is to use DOS 3.3 Launcher. It lets you copy unprotected DOS 3.3 140K disks to your hard drive, and run DOS 3.3 under ProDOS. Such functionality does have some requirements, though: programs must only use 48K of RAM (the upper 16K is reserved for ProDOS, which is running at the same time), not do any copy protection or disk hackery, and generally behave themselves. DOS 3.3 Launcher is available from the normal Apple II ftp sites: ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/utils/dos3.3.shk

Is there any form of Unix that I can use on my Apple II?

A: Yes, a pretty good commercial variant exists, but only for the GS: Procyon's GNO/ME. Since the GS (nor any other A2 model) doesn't have any form of memory protection or virtual memory, and the 65816 is limited to a maximum of 64K of stack space, programs that assume they can use whatever amounts of ram they want (gcc, X Windows, etc) can't be run at all.

GNO/ME runs on top of GS/OS, so you can multitask text-based programs with at most one GS desktop GUI program.

Can I generate Postscript from my Apple II?

A: The GS most certainly can with the right software; certain packages like Publish-It (at least versions 3 and 4; maybe also earlier versions as well) for the //e or //c also have such functionality. The GEOS family of programs for the Apple II can also generate postscript, but those programs are not available anymore to my knowledge [I believe that maybe the Springboard Publisher can do that also; more info would be appreciated]

To print to a postscript file on the GS with any program that follows the GS's methods for printing (Print Shop GS and pretty much all non-GS programs won't work), install the Laserwriter driver to System 6.0 or 6.0.1. You do not need to have a Laserwriter; just install the driver. [This will install Appletalk as well; to avoid the annoying message about Appletalk not being available at boot, disable the 'SCC.Manager' file in the drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk.]

Once this is done, select the Laserwriter as your printer driver. Select 'Print' from within a GS application, and at the standard dialog which appears, do not press return to print. Instead, hold down the Open Apple and 'f' keys while you click on the 'OK' button with the mouse. That will force a print to disk. The resulting postscript file is saved to the Drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk with the name 'Postscript.GSxx', with 'xx' being a 2-digit number that starts at 00. You can then take the postscript file to another system and view or print it.

The Laserwriter driver from System 6.0.1 may not be compatible with all Postscript printers (especially the non-Apple ones); if you're having problems, you may wish to try using the driver from System 6.0.

Note that the GS's Laserwriter driver does not properly handle Truetype fonts in documents (which requires 'Pointless' from Westcode Software), so you may want to use only the fonts your postscript printer knows. [Those lists vary; everything knows Times, Courier and a few more, but check your printer's manual for info on what it supports.]

How do you copy from a 5.25" disk to 3.5" disk?

A: ProDOS has no problems with this, as long as you copy by files. Note that ProDOS can only have 51 files in the main directory. If you try to exceed that, it will give you a cryptic 'Disk Full' error. If there really is space left on the disk, you can copy all the files into a subdirectory to get around the 51-file limit. Subdirectories can support more files in them than any ProDOS volume has to store them as different files, but in practice, you should limit them to a few hundred files per directory.

Copy protected 5.25" disks and DOS 3.3 programs tend not to want to copy to other disks. You may have to put up with them as is.

My Apple II is running too fast. How do I slow it down?

A: If you have a GS without an accelerator card, use the builtin control panel (accessible by hitting control-open apple-escape at once or holding down the 'option' key on poweron) to change the system system between 'Normal' (1Mhz, same as a stock ][, ][+, //e, or //c) and 'Fast' (2.5Mhz). With accelerators installed in the GS, the 'Normal' speed still means 1Mhz, but 'Fast' is whatever the card is set to run at. The Transwarp GS has in its ROM a CDA (accessible from the text control panel as above) for configuring the speed; the Zip GS has both official and 3rd party (better) utilities to configure its speed in 16 levels.

Pre-GS accelerators (AE Transwarp models, Zip Chip and Rocket Chip, among others) tended to be disableable if you held down the 'Esc' key when the system [re]booted. That would drop the system back to 1Mhz until the next [re]boot and/or poweron.

What are the problems with GSCII?

A: GSCII is a great program, but has two subtle problems: First, it won't work correctly if you extract to a HFS disk (so extract to a ProDOS disk). Also, it won't set the size correctly on S16 files. This should only be a problem when downloading Shrinkit GS. In that case, use BINSCII. The rest of the time you will be extracting .SHK files, which don't care about extra bytes at the end.

AppleWorks won't print to my printer. What gives?

A: AppleWorks will refuse to print to a slot that has a disk device. In the past, this worked well because if you try to print to a slot that has a disk controller in it, you will re-boot. But now, this can cause problems when a disk device is 'mapped' into your printer slot (due to a limitation in ProDOS, you can only have 2 drives per slot. Extra partitions on your hard drive will be re-mapped to other slots). If you have a RamFast, you can re-map the drives to different slots. Otherwise, (for AW 3.0) use this patch:

POKE 768,128: POKE 769,10
BSAVE APLWORKS.SYSTEM,TSYS,A$300,L2,B$AE3

If you didn't understand that, e-mail me, or look into John Link's SuperPatch program, which includes many more patches.

My GS control panel keeps resetting to the defaults and/or forgetting the date-- the battery is dead.

A: It's probably your battery. If you have a ROM 03 GS, can you just pop it out an get another. On the ROM 01, you will need a Slide-On Battery Replacement Kit from Night Owl Productions. See address in hardware & software vendors section (10.2).

I'm getting Error XXXX or YY. What's it mean?

A: Some common errors and their cause:

A larger list of all error messages, but not always the best description of the cause is at h**p://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/gserrors.html. WE NEED A COPY OF THIS

ProDOS Errors:

UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS - You can't boot a disk unless it has ProDOS and a something.SYSTEM file on it (Pre-1.9 ProDOS)

Error No.

Meaning

$27

I/O Error. Possibly a bad disk? Verify it with Prosel or Copy II Plus

$44

Path not found (You gave an invalid directory name)

$45

Volume not found (you didn't type in the right disk name)

$46

File not found (you didn't type a valid filename)

GS/OS errors:

Error No.

Meaning

0201

Out of memory

0911

Either your GS is overheating, or the ADB port is having problems

0301

Bad TransWarp

0308

(Also see 8021) Something has trashed critical parts of memory

11xx

GS/OS could not successfully load an application or program

8020

Either random TransWarp, or SCSI (try using different SCSI connector)

8021

If you get this at random times and you have a HS Apple SCSI, it's

probably a version conflict. Install the SCSI drivers from your GS/OS

disk, not your HS Apple SCSI disk.

Why does my Apple II lose characters when I'm using the modem?

A: Check the following: 1) Your software may need interrupts enabled. Examine DIP Switch 2-6 on your Super Serial Card. 2) If you have an unenhanced //e, you need to enhance your //e. 3) If you have a //c, it may be one of the ones that had a serial port problem. Talk to your dealer about upgrading it for 2400 baud support. Also, to use a modem faster than 9600 pretty much requires a 'Hardware Handshaking' cable, not a cheap one.

Where do I get support for AE boards now that they are closed?

A: Bruce BABB, ex-AE bench tech, is offering support out of his home for customer support of AE's boards. He also hints that another company is opening that will sell many of the Apple II products the AE made. You can reach Bruce via Email at 76004.1575@compuserve.com

Is there a QWK reader for the Apple //e?

A: Yes, it's called 2qwk!. To use 2qwk! you must patch ProDOS to allow filenames sent by MS-DOS machines. The Apple II version is now available via ftp from ground and caltech.

I've got a problem. How do I troubleshoot it?

Asking others for help is fine, but if you do, please provide the following information. (And the act of finding out this information may help you find the cause on your own)

1. Is it reproducible? One system crash that happened out of the blue and never reoccurred is almost impossible to track down and fix.

2. When did the fault appear? During boot? After a fixed amount of time? Whenever you do X in program Y?

3. Any and ALL error messages reported by the system. Copy them down and repeat them exactly; saying "it gave an error" is not useful.

4. How dead the system is. Does the mouse still work, but clicks do nothing? Does it do anything at all?

5. System configuration. What cards in what slots, how much RAM, which SCSI controller and rom version (if applicable), what size HD, etc.

If you have just purchased a bunch of new hardware and/or software, resist the temptation to install all your new toys at once. Take it one step at a time and test everything after adding each item. (i.e. Run the diagnostics and try your old programs.)

If you have an enhanced //e, //c, IIc+, or GS, try the system self-test: hold down the Control key, the Open Apple key, and the Option (or Solid Apple) key. Then press and release Reset. Lastly, let up on the other keys. Sit back and 'Watchen Der Blinken Lighten.' If you run into a problem, please see the next section on self test errors and what they mean.

Leave the computer plugged in, but turned off when installing cards. Touch the top of power supply before and often during your work. Better yet, use a wrist strap tied to ground through a 1 Megaohm resistor.

Make sure you have the required components for the program. Does it require an Enhanced //e? More RAM? A separate boot disk?

Never use your original disks. Make a backup and store the write-protected original in a safe place.

Be sure to keep your disks away from stray magnetic fields, such as those emanating from phones, monitors and speakers.

If you have an accelerator, try to disable it or take it out entirely. It may not be compatible with the new item. (This is actually rare; the one consistent thing accelerators have problems is the GS's self test)

Check all your cable connections. Do not disconnect or connect any cables with the computer on-- this includes disk/hard drives, keyboards, mice, etc.

Try pulling out other cards and disconnect your joystick. If you have a lot of cards, you might consider a Heavy-Duty Power Supply from A.E. It supplies 6 Amps instead of a measly 2.5 Amps. Test the power supply with a voltmeter while the computer is on.

Call the manufacturer to see if there is an upgrade or a fix with the program.

Most RAM cards come with a memory tester. Try running it in continuous mode for several hours, even if your RAM seems to be working.

Verify your disk(s) with Copy ][+ or the Finder to see if you have any bad blocks. A better choice is ProSEL, which provides a comprensive set of disk verification and fixing errors.

On a GS, check your control panel (control-open-apple-escape) settings: What is the startup slot set to? Is the slot set to "Your Card"? Check your RAM disk setting. Is it taking up all your memory? Try setting the speed to normal if it's a non-GS program.

On a GS, try take out or disable your INITS, CDAs, NDAs, and CDEVS. (With System 6, just hold down the shift key while booting). If the system is fine when shiftbooted, then there is probably a conflict between some of them. Try manually disabling a few at a time, and seeing if the problem disappears. You can narrow down a problem to an init or few that way.

If you have a hard disk, try booting from a System Disk and/or reinstalling the latest system software. Using the installer that came with the system software the the best and safest way to install system software; hand installing parts can cause problems.

AppleWorks GS 1.1 comes with a memory tester (try it).

The TransWarp GS has a continuous test on the CDA (try it too).

My GS reported a problem with the Self Test. What do the numbers mean?

Please note that with a Zip GS in the system, the system will always report an error, even if none exists. You will get an 05xxxxxx if DIP switch 1-4 is ON, but if that's off, you're likely to get 0Bxxxxxx (not on all Zips) or 0Cxxxxxx errors. If you suspect a real problem, then you can either switch off the Zip (1-6 off), or remove the Zip from the system and try with the normal processor. Do all modifications to DIP switches or cards in general with the computer off, as usual.

My Apple II goes into a self test or reboots when I turn it on.

Try unplugging any joysticks, paddles, or anything else plugged into the back joystick port or the internal game port. Since the primary and secondary joystick buttons appear the same to the system as the open and closed (option on the GS) apple buttons, if your joystick's buttons are misreported as down, the system can assume you're trying to continually do a self test. If your system works without the joystick plugged in, your joystick is defective.

This is a general rule of thumb for troubleshooting, as noted above. Pull out EVERYTHING not needed for the problem (go down to computer, monitor, and optionally the keyboard for the base problems), and slowly add components until the problem reappears. When it does, you've isolated the problem. [As usual, only plug or unplug devices with the power off.]

My Hard Drive (or other disk) crashed! What do I do?

If you have adequate backups, reformat it, and copy the data back. If you don't have backups, this would be a good time to start praying. Dead disk recovery is a delicate art at best; be forewarned that there is a good chance that some to all data will be lost.

Reminder: Keep good backups of any files you care about!

There are two commercial programs that can do a decent job at recovering as much as possible from a ProDOS disk: ProSEL (8 and 16 bit versions published by Charlie's Appleseeds) and Salvation: Deliverance (published by Vitesse). ProSEL-8 is the only package that runs on non-GS Apple IIs, so it may be your only choice. ProSEL-16 and Salvation both require GSs.

Refer to their manuals for the specifics on how to attempt volume restoration with them, though from what I've heard, they have a much better chance of restoring files in subdirectories, not the top-level directory. Thus, it may be prudent to store important files in subdirectories so that they can restored later. [With a limit of 51 files in the top directory, you'll be forced into using subdirectories sooner or later on hard drives.]

If you managed to repartition or erase your drive, at least with ProSEL (and possibly also Salvation, though I have not used that or heard from any owners), you have a decent chance of restoring most files if you repartitioned it EXACTLY as it used to be partitioned: same partition sizes in the same order. Do NOT reformat the drive or partitions-- that'll write to all disk blocks, which will make recovery essentially impossible. Then, run ProSEL on it and tell it not to assume a valid volume bitmap for each partition. You'll probably lose files in the root directory, but it's a better than nothing.

My Apple II is reporting the wrong year. How do I fix that?

First, if you have a GS, and the internal clock is reporting the wrong year each time you boot up, you probably have a dead battery. See section 8.4 for where to get a replacement.

ProDOS 8 does have a problem in its year calculating code-- the designers assumed that a table holding only 6 years would be sufficient. They were wrong. You'll have to patch ProDOS every few years to keep it up to date; a text file including a Basic program is on Apple's FTP site: ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/slotclock-patch.txt

What does "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS" mean when I boot a disk?

ProDOS is not automatically installed on every disk formatted under ProDOS. All that is writted to disk is a very short boot stub that looks for a system (type 'SYS') file in the root directory called 'PRODOS'. If that file is present, it is loaded, and ProDOS installs itself. If there is no PRODOS file found, the error message of "UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS" is displayed on the screen.

To make such a disk bootable, all you need to do is copy the file 'PRODOS' from a working ProDOS boot disk to the root directory of the disk you want to be able to boot from, assuming there is enough free space to copy that file.

You will also want to copy at least one other system (type='SYS') to the root directory of any disk you want to boot, as ProDOS scans the root directory for the first SYS file with name ending in ".SYSTEM" to execute, or it'll be unhappy. A good candidate for such a file is Apple's "BASIC.SYSTEM", providing the Basic interpreter and command line interface to ProDOS.

If you choose to use Macs and Disk Copy to download System 6.x, make sure to use Double Sided/Double Density (DSDD - 720K or 800K) disks-- 1.44MB (HD) disks will be written to as 1.44MB disks, which most GS drives cannot deal with. Also, if your GS is refusing to boot off the install disk (with an 'UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS' message), and you have a Quadra or Powermac, you may be a victim of Apple's costcutting in 3.5" drives-- those drives may report disks as successfully written, but GSs will be unable to read them. Switch to an older Mac with a usable drive, or use a null modem program to transfer the files.

Section 9: GS System 6.0 mini-FAQ

Where can I get System 6, and what fixes are there for the known bugs in it?

First off, if you don't have it on your GS, you may want to consider upgrading to System 6.0.1. Like all GS/OS releases, you will need to make sure you've got a ROM 01 or ROM 3 before you even think about running it. Although you may be able to get it to boot in less RAM, 1.25MB of RAM is pretty much a minimum; 1.5-2MB RAM is recommended if you want to run a lot of the fun addons. Secondly, an 800K floppy is rather cramped for space as a boot disk; a Hard Drive helps immensely. (If you're looking to strip a boot disk down to get as much space as possible, please see my reference of files in the GS/OS installation at http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=IIgs_6.0.1.html.)

System 6.0.1 has a number of bugfixes and small addons from System 6.0; they both have similar RAM requirements, so you should consider moving to System 6.0.1 if at all possible. Also, many problems that existed in System 6.0 and 6.0.1 have only been fixed in patches to System 6.0.1, such as the HFS FST and programs that GUPP fixes. (See below)

Next, you'll want to download them. On the internet, they're available in Apple II (.BSQ) form from Apple's FTP site at ftp://ftp.apple.com/dts/aii/sys.soft/gs.system.6.0.1/. There are 6 disks to either System 6.0 or System 6.0.1; you should download and unpack them (with Binscii and Shrinkit. Then, boot the Install disk.

When unpacking the .BSQ files from Apple's FTP site without a hard drive, you'll notice that some of the disks can be larger than 800K, even when partially unpacked. Creating a Ramdisk from the control panel greater than 800K will let you unpack these big disks without any problems. (Remember to kill off that ramdisk before trying to run GS/OS if you have less than 1.5MB of RAM)

If you choose to use Macs and Disk Copy to download System 6.x, make sure to use Double Sided/Double Density (DSDD - 720K or 800K) disks-- 1.44MB (HD) disks will be written to as 1.44MB disks, which most GS drives cannot deal with. Also, if your GS is refusing to boot off the install disk (with an 'UNABLE TO LOAD PRODOS' message), and you have a Quadra or Powermac, you may be a victim of Apple's costcutting in 3.5" drives-- those drives may report disks as successfully written, but GSs will be unable to read them. Switch to an older Mac with a usable drive, or use a null modem program to transfer the files.

While a little too big for this FAQ, Nathan Mates has written a reference detailing the various files installed by System 6.0.1 with comments on their use, as well as which files are required for minimal disk usage. Please see http://apple2.info/wiki/index.php?title=IIgs_6.0.1.html.

Common Problems

If you are still using System 6.0, it is recommended that you upgrade to the latest and greatest version, 6.0.1. It is available at Apple's FTP site (see section for the address).

The HFS (Macintosh) FST (File system translator) included with System 6.0.1 does contain at least one bug, which can corrupt a HFS volume of 64MB or larger. It is strongly encouraged that you download and install the patch. (You'll need to copy all the files off to non-HFS volumes, install, and copy back for safety). The patch is available from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/addons/patches/patchhfs.shk

I (Nathan Mates) have had HFS volumes corrupted, so I'm pretty confident that there are more bugs in the FST. There are no native GS HFS volume checkers; you'll have to take the drive to a Mac anytime you need to run a checker such as Apple's Disk First Aid or Norton Utilities. (Also, Macs want a special driver, which may require you to [re]format the drive on a mac, or use a special program to insert it. This boils down to the general computer rule of thumb: If you care about your files, make sure you have backups!

Despite the hard work of the Apple Computer programmers, some bugs slipped through in System 6.0.1. Both as a recommendation for system stability, and as a plug for a program of his, Nathan Mates (maintainer of this FAQ) has found and fixed a number of them. These include memory trashing bugs in the 6.0.1 Finder, the Pascal FST not recognizing legal punctuation in disk names, and many more. Get the free program 'GUPP' (Grand Unified Patch Program) from a major Apple II FTP site

Copy ][+ may be a great program for making the one personal backup copy of a piece of software that you are legally entitled to, but its file copy, delete, and directory sorting functions will corrupt a disk when used on a directory with GS/OS 'forked' files. (Pretty much all of the system software is forked, as are most GS applications). Do NOT use it on disks or HD partitions with such files. ProSEL 8 or 16 can repair some of the damage done, and provide safe disk and file utilities.

If the mouse cursor wipes out everything it moves over, you may have a software conflict with Closeview. To deactivate it, from within the Finder, open the 'System' folder on your boot disk, then the 'System.Setup' folder. Find the icon named 'Closeview', and click once on it. Then, from the 'Special' menu, choose 'Icon Info...'. A window will open up, with a check box for 'Inactive' in the top right. After setting it to inactive, reboot. You can do the same thing for any other Desk Accessory, Control Panel (CDev), or Init (in the System.Setup folder, should you decide not to want to run it.

Easy Access also can and does cause lockups with programs, especially on the ROM 01. Deactivate it just like you did with the Closeview program-- it's in the same folder.

If you are getting an annoying message about Appletalk not being available at boot, but you're not using Appletalk in general, disable the 'SCC.Manager' file in the drivers folder inside the system folder on your boot disk.

Missing features of system 6? Perhaps you just used easy install, which doesn't install all the bells and whistles. Try clicking on the 'Custom' install (versus the easy install) in the Sys 6.0 installer and add the nifty things like Calculator, Find File, HFS FST, etc. You can also read the Shortcuts file on the 'SystemTools2' disk for some great keyboard shortcuts.

Finder 6.0 icons that match by name and have a leading wildcard require uppercase letters. For example, a name like "*.txt" never matches, but "*.TXT" works fine (it matches regardless of a file's actual capitalization). (This was accidental; the 5.0.4 Finder did not care about capitalization in icon files.)

Two misconceptions about System 6: The A2.RAMCARD is not for the GS's /RAM5. It only works with "slinky" (i.e. standard slot) cards. Also, the DOS 3.3 FST has nothing to do with MS-DOS.

Tips & Hints

The AppleShare logon programs have always looked for a folder named "Mail" inside your user folder whenever you log onto a user volume. If there's any items in there, they present a dialog that says "You have mail." With the Sounds control panel, you can make it play a sound of your choice then.

If you don't want to see your icons on boot, set bit 1 (i.e. the 2nd LSB) of BRAM Location $5F. Be sure not to mess with the other bits. Use the toolbox calls!

The FinderExtras folder goes in the same folder as the Finder (generally the System folder).

If you don't like yellow folders in the Finder you can change the byte at offset +65 in the Finder resource with type $C001 and ID 1. Change the $E0 to whatever you want (the first digit is the default folder foreground color, and the low nibble is for the outline color). Only folders that do not already have a color recorded in a Finder.Data file get the default color.

If you have a RamFAST

The RamFast and ProDOS 2.0.1 both try to do re-mapping of drives to unused slots. This can cause problems, mostly when launching and returning from ProDOS 8 applications (crashes or wants you to insert disk). Solution: Configure the RamFast not to re-map. If you have a RamFAST with a ROM revision less than 2.01a, you need to get a newer ROM from Sequential Systems. Otherwise, V2.01c allows setting Slot Priority Allocations to 0 which will let ProDOS deal with them. V3.0 allows you to choose between RamFast mapping (works now) and ProDOS 8 mapping. If you can't wait, you can Patch ProDOS 2.0 not to re-map slots. Look for "10 BF C9 A5 D0 07" and change the $A5 to $00 (should be byte $1A3 in the 5th block of the file). Hack at your own risk.

If you have a Vulcan or AE High Density disk

Due to problems with the Vulcan, when booting, it asks for your System Disk. Just put the Vulcan driver on your boot disk, boot it, and then launch the installer. Alternately, put the driver on the installer disk and boot it. (but you have to delete some of the installer scripts first) For the AE High Density Drive, be sure to remove Apple's 3.5" driver when putting on AE's.

If you have ProSel as your program launcher

Rename start to something else before running the installer, or else the Finder won't be installed. Also, ProSEL as a launcher will cause a bogus $0040 error on some programs such as the first DOTW release.

If you have an AMR 3.5" drive

If the computer hangs (mostly at the Standard File Save/Open dialog box) with no disk in the drive, try putting one in. What's happening is that GS is reading the status from the drive, and the drive won't return anything unless there is a disk in the drive. Just stick a disk in and all will be fine. If it really annoys you, either deactivate the 3.5" driver (get IR so you can double-click to re-activate it) or simply keep a disk in the drive at all times. This is not a problem under ProDOS 8.

GSCII+ & HFS Note

There is a problem with the HFS FST, but only GSCII seems to be affected. When de-binscii-ing files, put the output onto a ProDOS volume, not an HFS one.

[ Mega-thanks to Dave Lyons & friends for these. ]

Finder 6.0.1 is displaying garbage in the windows!

System 6.0.1's Finder occasionally gets some of its files corrupted, and then fills a window (or the screen) with multicolor garbage when a window is opened. This is extremely annoying, but there are ways to fix it. First, try installing Grand Unified Patcher Program (see the section above (9.1) on system 6.x patches).

If that doesn't work, go to the 'Preferences...' menu item under the Finder's 'Special' menu, and turn off the hiding of invisible files. Inside the 'Icons' folder on each disk/partition, there's a file called 'Desktop'. Trash it, and reboot. [This file contains window sizes and custom icon placements, as well as duplicate copies of icons from System 6-savvy applications with 'rBundles' attached. No real harm other than losing the window placements is done by trashing it.]

Lastly, you can look for bad icon files-- make a new folder (such as 'Icons2') on each hard drive, and move all files except 'Ftype.Apple' out of the Icons folder on each disk/partition to the new folder. Reboot and see if the problem still occurs. If not, move a few files back at a time, reboot, and see if you have the problem. When you've isolated the problem file, don't use it anymore.

Icons no longer point to apps. How do I rebuild the desktop database?

Easiest way: from Finder, go to prefs, turn off hide invisible files. In each disk partition's 'Icons' folder, there should be a file named 'desktop'. Delete it. That'll just force a new desktop database file to be created next time you start the Finder; you'll still have to click on each file that put its rBundles into there to rebuild it.

Better way: Softdisk G-S #47 or 48, program I (Nathan Mates) wrote called 'Rebuilder'. Deletes the desktop file, then scans the drive for all rBundles and adds them.

How do I make a 3.5" disk that boots and runs an Application?

Assuming that this (or any other program) is a ProDOS 16 or GS/OS app, the way to put it on a self-booting disk is:

1) Format disk, install GS/OS on it, with any desired extensions, etc

2a) Copy the app you want to run to the system folder of that disk, and rename it 'Start'

-OR-

2b) Copy the app you want to run to the root directory (lowest level) of the disk, and make sure its filename ends in ".SYS16", renaming it if necessary. If you do this, delete any 'Start' program in the system folder.

What's the difference between 2:1 and 4:1 3.5" formatting?

These two ratios are possible interleave factors for 3.5" disks. Unidisks 3.5"s maximum speed is at the 4:1 interleave factor; if 2:1 disks are inserted in them, a lot of time will be wasted while the disk blows revolutions reading sequential sectors. Apple 3.5" drives best speed is at 2:1; 4:1 disks in them can be accessed slightly slower than 2:1, but not anywhere near as bad as 2:1 disks in Unidisk drives. Thus, if you don't have Unidisk drives, 2:1 should be selected, but if you're using a mix of drives or Unidisks, 4:1 is the optimal speed.

What do I do with icon files for the Finder, and how can I customize how they appear?

Under System 6.0, each volume you have online can (and the Finder will occasionally auto-add this) have a folder named 'Icons' in the root directory. Applications with separate icons files (as identified by a Finder 'Get Info') can have that icons file copied to the Icons folder of that partition. For example, the application /Games1/OneArmBattle/OneArmBattle should have its icon file copied to /Games1/Icons/ . Most icons files are simply cute fluff, and are not needed to run things correctly. A lot of files may also slow down loading of the Finder, as it must reload all icons files each time.

The 'FType.Apple' file installed to the Icons folder of the boot disk along with the rest of the System Software is a required file for the Finder, GS Shrinkit, and possibly other applications. Do not mess with it; it does not contain any icons, but the text descriptions of file types you can see from the Finder.

If you want to make your own icons, or point them at various applications, the best way to do this is to make up a custom icon for the filetype, and set the icon application path to the application you want to run. IconED 2.0 is a good icon editor, and is available from ftp://apple2.caltech.edu/pub/apple2/utils/. Once your icon file is created, it should be saved in an Icons folder on one of your disks, preferably the boot volume. As the first match of an icon is used, you may want to do a directory sort to move your custom file to the top of the Icons folder or elsewhere if things are matching oddly.

Hardware and Software Vendors

The Byte Works products are available at http://www.syndicomm.com. Apple IIGS assemblers, compilers, and utility programs such as a spreadsheet and a morphing program. They are also one of the few sources for Apple II books full of technical and programming information.